The Scope of Obsession
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Not all evil is supernatural - something Willow is reminded of the hard way when she finds herself as the target of a man and his obsession with her, putting both her partner and her into danger. Rating for violence and Pat's dirty mouth. Willow / OC, est. relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Well, I did decide to get this one started a bit earlier than usual, to make up for the messed up schedule last week ;D I hope you'll enjoy this, it's a bit different from what I usually throw at the two lovely ladies. Special thanks go to my better half, who helped a lot with this story.

Disclaimer: None of the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer characters used in this are mine. Not making any money with this, either.

* * *

The Scope of Obsession

As always during the rather popular psychology class, the lecture hall was filled to the brim, with all the seats taken and some of the students even sitting in the aisles, balancing their notepads on their knees; thanks to the fact that they had been there early enough, Buffy and Willow weren't forced to sit on the floor among them, but had managed to secure tables for themselves, both of them scribbling as the professor at the front of the class kept talking, not bothering if his students managed to follow him or not.

By now, most of them were used enough to him that they did, their pens scratching over the paper, this and his talking being the only sounds in the hall; he talked too fast to allow gossip amongst them, the class being one of the quietest at campus ever since the new professor had taken over and had made it obvious pretty fast that he had neither tolerance, nor patience for students who weren't fully interested in his topics.

As always when she sat in that particular class, Buffy could feel a cramp coming on in her hand, and once again asked herself how it was possible that she battled vampires and demons every night without problem, but got writing cramps as soon as she had to write more than one page by hand; to her relief, and as if the bell had sensed her distress, it rang a minute later, the professor hurriedly finishing the sentence he had started before he let the students know which chapters they should read until the next class, all of them only rising from their seats when he told them that they were dismissed.

"Finally", Buffy mumbled, making sure to keep her voice low so only Willow could hear her while she packed up her books and notepad, "my hand was starting to cramp up. Again."

"Poor you", the redhead showed some sympathy, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she got up from her seat, "maybe you should practice that more. I hardly ever get that anymore."

"Lucky you", Buffy grumbled, picking her bag up as well and making her way down the stairs with the witch by her side, "if I had time, I'd practice, but with college, taking care of Dawn, training and slaying, there's not really much free time left."

"I imagine", Willow grimaced, "but hey, you know Pat's willing to go on patrol alone every now and then, in case you need an evening off."

"I know, but I don't want to get too used to having a substitute whenever I don't feel like it", Buffy smiled, the audible rumbling of her stomach prompting her to check her schedule before she suggested a quick stop at the cafeteria; nodding her agreement, Willow glanced around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them, then spoke on, bringing the talk back to her partner taking over patrol on her own, at least for a few nights a month.

"She could do it once a week, I'm sure she would", she suggested, glad that none of the other students around was paying attention to their talk, since it might have ended up hard to explain, had anyone asked them, "and I'm pretty sure Giles will understand, too. You do need some time off every now and then."

"And Dawn would love to have me home every now and then", the blonde had to admit, "maybe that would make her pester me less about going on patrol with me."

"You're still training her, aren't you?" Willow wanted to know in surprise, frowning – after all, Pat and Buffy already had taken the teenager along a few times when they had taken over patrol, and she had been part of the training session in the Magic Box's backroom, learning hand to hand combat from both her sister and from the demon.

"Yes, I am", Buffy confirmed, "but with her starting college soon now, next semester to be exact, I don't really want to take her along. We make sure not to injure her during training, but the vampires won't be so reasonable, and how should she explain any cuts and bruises then in case someone asks her? The last thing we need is Social Services knocking at our door again."

"I imagine", Willow grimaced, "and that's a good point… What is Dawn saying about that?"

"On good days, she agrees", Buffy smirked in reply, "and on the bad days, she pesters me about wanting to come along."

"Not surprising though, especially since we did take her along a few times and she did quite well", the redhead pointed out, "it's just a pity she doesn't have Slayer healing. Or Pat's healing."

Nodding, Buffy glanced down on her arm again, an arm which had been broken just a week ago, and had been healed thanks to the abilities of her best friend's partner; she briefly closed her hand into a fist, amazed at how well the broken bone had healed once it had been treated by the taller woman's magic.

"Even though Pat could heal her, too, should she really get hurt", the redhead now pondered out loud, but not so loud that someone nearby might have heard and wonder what she was talking about, "when she didn't get hurt herself, that is."

"Better not mention this to Dawn", Buffy gave back with a roll of her eyes, "or I'll get pestered every minute I'm at home. Frankly, I'm amazed she didn't come up with this on her own so far, it's not like she hasn't seen it happen…"

Trailing off, she patted her pockets, then frowned, prompting Willow to ask what was wrong, a hint of alarm in her voice when she replied, simultaneously searching through her bag.

"I think I lost my phone", she told her best friend, glancing up at her with dismay all over her face, "I can't find it…"

"Want me to call you?" Willow offered, already looking for her own phone and, to her relief, finding it in her pocket, "maybe it'll ring somewhere deep in your bag. Or back in the lecture hall."

"No use", Buffy sighed, giving up the search for her phone, "I put it on mute so it wouldn't ring during the lecture, you know how the professor can get…"

"Indeed", the redhead grimaced, not sure what to offer next; her first idea was magic, but that could hardly be done in the middle of campus, and thus would have to wait until she was at a more private place, her home or the Magic Box.

"I'll just check the Lost & Found after the last class", the Slayer now sighed, glancing at her bag again in dismay as if it was its fault that the phone had been lost, "it's quite an old phone, so maybe I'll be lucky and someone put it there."

"Crossing my fingers for you", Willow reassured her, then they reached the cafeteria and for the moment, Buffy forgot about her phone as the thought about food pushed everything else aside; speeding up slightly, she moved to the end of the queue, the redhead right behind her, both of them eager to get lunch and something to drink before the next class would demand their full attention again.

* * *

After the last class they shared, the ways of Buffy and Willow parted, with the blonde going off to look for her phone at the Lost & Found while the redhead made her way home; she had offered to accompany Buffy, but the blonde had declined, pointing out that their ways would part at the campus gate anyway, with the witch living in the other direction from the Summers house.

Thus, Willow was alone as she made her way to the campus gate, being greeted by several students with waves and nods and returning their greetings; just as the campus gate came into view though, she got distracted from anyone who might try to get her attention by the tall, wiry figure leaning comfortably against one of the stone pillars which were part of the gate, smoking a cigarette and watching the people passing by with a keen eye, the other one covered by a black leather eyepatch.

"Pat!" the redhead called out, surprised and delighted – usually, her partner and she settled it beforehand if she'd pick her up from college, and thus, seeing her there now was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise.

Upon her call, the taller woman turned to look at her, smiling the moment their eyes met; she threw her cigarette down on the sidewalk and stepped on it to put it out, then moved to meet the witch, her happy grin mirrored on Willow's face as she was pulled into a tender embrace and the couple shared a brief, but just as tender kiss.

"Surprise", the black haired woman mumbled after the kiss, smirking; still beaming, Willow nodded rather enthusiastically, both of them ignoring the looks they were receiving, by now more than used to them – perhaps two women kissing out in the open like that wasn't a sensation for most of the campus' population, but if one of them had an eyepatch, it surely was a sight they weren't presented with quite often.

"And a very good one", Willow now reassured her partner, holding back the urge to giggle girlishly, briefly amazed at, after how even all those years, the demon could make her feel like a love-struck teenager, "I thought you'd be at the Magic Box all afternoon!"

"So did I", Pat shrugged, finally pulling back from the embrace so they could resume walking, still keeping up the physical contact by holding hands, "but one of the deliveries Anya was expecting today got cancelled, so we got done much earlier and I ducked out before I had to listen to her yell at the poor sod responsible for that."

"Good thinking", Willow now did giggle after all, "I bet that poor guy got an earful…"

"For sure", the demon smirked, "but, thankfully, not my problem. How was your day?"

"Quite alright", the redhead let her know, "there was just a moment of dismay for Buffy, she lost her phone. She's at the Lost & Found right now, looking for it. Let's hope someone put it there."

"Oh my", the taller woman gave back, frowning, "it'd suck if it was gone for good. I lost a phone once, it was quite the hassle. All those phone numbers, gone."

"That'd be really annoying, yes", the witch agreed, briefly wondering what numbers exactly her partner had had stored in said lost phone, if it had been numbers of assassin colleagues and other demons; then, she shrugged it off, telling herself that it didn't matter anymore, that these persons and actions weren't part of the demon's life anymore and that she had more than redeemed herself during the numerous occasions she had helped saving the world, more than once with great danger to her health.

"Well, I suppose she'll call me in case she finds it", she added after a moment, smiling up at her partner, "and if she doesn't, she'll copy the most important numbers from my phone tomor—"

The ringing of the phone in her pocket cut her off mid-word, and she raised an eyebrow in surprise before she dug out her phone, asking herself if Buffy had found hers so fast; one glance at the display told her that it was her best friend calling, and she told Pat just that before she took the call, not even bothering with a greeting, but saying "So you did find it" right away.

For a few moments, she waited for a reply, her smile vanishing when none came, the only thing audible being the breathing of the person on the other end of the line; and suddenly, she was sure that it wasn't Buffy, the look on her face when she demanded to know who this was prompting Pat to give her a look of concern.

"Hello?" Willow tried again when once again, all she could hear was breathing, "who is this? Hello?!"

"What's going on?" Pat mouthed, giving her another worried look; in response, the redhead shrugged, feeling rather helpless – and then the call was ended, and she frowned again, glaring at the phone as if it could tell her who exactly just had called her.

"It was Buffy's number", she explained after another moment of glaring, "but it surely wasn't Buffy. Whoever it was, they just… breathed into my ear and then hung up."

"That's odd", the demon gave back, raising an eyebrow, "perhaps you should call back and see if they pick up. Maybe they're just shy."

"Good idea", Willow agreed, then pushed the button which would dial Buffy's number; it rang a few times, then the call went to voicemail, and she grumbled to herself as she ended it, shaking her head afterwards.

"Voicemail", she then told her partner, "so no success there. We better tell Buffy to cancel her contract on that phone, before this person calls a million people and racks up a huge bill for her."

"Good point", the taller woman nodded, "let's call her landline once we're home. She won't be pleased to hear that someone's using her phone."

"Let's hope she named her contacts sensibly", Willow giggled, "just imagine what this person might think if you're, for example, in her phone under 'Pat the demon' or I'm 'Willow the Witch'."

"Or 'Giles, Watcher'", Pat snickered, making her partner giggle once more, "and how about 'Anya, Ex-Demon'?"

"Jeez", the witch finally brought out, having managed to calm down enough to speak, "now I really hope she didn't do that. Though I doubt it."

"One never knows with Buffy", the taller woman told her, making her laugh once more; she nodded her agreement, then stopped walking again to pull her lover down for yet another innocent, but gentle kiss, neither of them willing to do more than that out in the open after quite a few nasty comments they had received in the past, comments Pat usually had dealt with swiftly and, at times, violently, at other moments only with a glowing red glare at the one who had uttered them; still Willow didn't need to hear the nasty things people sometimes came up with, and thus they had agreed on a "No tongues" policy for public, something which was working out more or less fine for both of them.

"Let's call her once we get home", the witch suggested after the kiss and the couple kept on walking, "she should be at their home as well, until then."

"Yup", the taller woman amiably agreed, making her partner smile up at her again; she took a moment to return the smile, squeezing her hand tenderly, the mysterious call and the caller's behaviour soon forgotten as they headed down the street, towards the home they shared.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yeah, they just breathed into my ear and then hung up", Willow explained the strange call to her best friend, "and when I called back, it went to voicemail. You better call the provider and tell them to shut the phone down, who knows what else the one who found it might get up to."

"How annoying", Buffy grumbled on the other line, "but thanks for the tip, I'll call them right after we hung up. Did you talk to Pat about patrol yet?"

"Yes, just when we got home", Willow let her know, "she's more than willing to do it. You know she likes beating the bad guys up, and by now, she's done it often enough to do it alone."

"Tell her thank you from me", Buffy sighed, so relieved that it made the redhead smile, "it'll be nice to have a night off every now and then…"

"She can do it once a week", the witch reassured her, "you just have to tell her when and she'll be ready to go."

"Yup!" the Slayer heard the demon call out in the background, making her smile; she expressed her gratitude once more, then asked Willow to speak to her partner so they could figure out when she'd take over the patrol next, prompting the redhead to hand the phone to her girlfriend before she moved to the kitchen and got herself a drink there, only to nearly drop it when her phone started to buzz in her pocket, informing her that she had received a new message.

Curious, she put the drink down, then pulled the phone out and took a look at the display; the number which had sent the message wasn't one she had saved to the built-in phonebook, and she didn't recognize it either, frowning to herself as she pushed the button which would show it on the display and saw that it was just one word.

_Hello._

In the living room, she heard Pat say goodbye to the blonde, then end the call; and moments later, the taller woman was joining her in the kitchen, frowning immediately as well when she saw the look on her partner's face, moving closer to her as she asked her if something was wrong.

"I just got this message", she let the taller woman know, showing her the phone and making her squint so she could read it, "and I don't know the number. That's all it said."

"Strange", the demon commented, looking at her own phone to make sure she hadn't received such a message, not surprised when there was none, "especially after that strange phone call you received from Buffy's phone today."

"Indeed", Willow agreed, glad that she wasn't the only one who thought that this was too much of a coincidence, looking at the message again, "I'm glad you think so, too, I already thought I was getting paranoid. Should I write back?"

"Not sure", the demon frowned, "but perhaps it's someone who just got the wrong number and we're worried for nothing. Maybe write back that you don't know the number and ask who they are?"

"Good idea", the witch nodded, already beginning to type; it didn't take her long to write the message, and even though she gave her best not to sound rude, she wasn't sure if she had accomplished this feat when she sent it.

_Sorry, but I don't know this number. Who are you?_

"Let's see if they reply", she stated, looking at the phone as if staring at it might make an answer come faster; nodding, Pat glanced at the device once more as well, then moved on to the fridge, getting a drink there as well, the phone buzzing in Willow's hand just as she closed the door again.

"There we go", the redhead mumbled, prompting her partner to move over and look at the display with her, both of them frowning when the message was displayed.

_My name doesn't matter. I admire you._

"Well that's nice", the witch said dryly, "I have an admirer. An admirer who sends me messages from a number I don't recognize and refuses to tell me who he is. And I have no idea from where he got my number."

"Buffy's phone", Pat replied at once, making the redhead look at her in surprise, the expression on the smaller woman's face prompting the demon to shrug.

"What?" she then stated, clearly finding it hard to believe that her partner couldn't follow her train of thought, "Buffy loses her phone, and on the exact same day, you get a strange phone call and just as strange messages. Seems like too much of a coincidence to me."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, "but that thought's not exactly helping to make this any less creepy, you know."

"I'm sorry", the demon gave back, scratching the back of her head sheepishly, "but it does make sense. Can't you find out whom this phone belongs to?"

"I could, if I hacked into the databases of the service providers", Willow thoughtfully gave back, "but that seems like a bit of an overreaction, don't you think?"

"Perhaps, for now", Pat sighed, taking a sip of her drink before she spoke on, "but if this keeps going, you should keep the possibility in mind. Could you track the phone?"

"Not sure", the witch had to admit, frowning as she asked herself if her partner was overreacting and interpreting too much into the messages and the call, "perhaps. Either with technology or magic. As you said, I'll keep that in mind in case they message or call again."

"Alright", the demon agreed, letting out a sigh afterwards, taking the time to put her drink aside before she moved to embrace her partner, the smaller woman returning the embrace more than willingly, "and I know you think I overreact, but don't forget I've been alive much longer than you. And I've seen a lot of fucked up stuff, and not just coming from demons and vampires."

"I know", Willow reassured her, smiling slightly when she felt the black haired woman caress her back tenderly, "and it's touching that you're so concerned, but for now, let's just not assume the worst for once. Maybe it's just some student with a crush."

"I definitely need to forget our policy for a minute the next time I pick you up then and kiss you as if there's no tomorrow", Pat smirked, "that might scare him off."

"Oh dear", the witch giggled in reply, "that might scare him off for good. Especially if he then reveals himself and you glare at him with your glowing gaze of rage."

"Yup", the taller woman grinned, making her partner laugh again; then, she changed the topic by asking if and when she'd take over patrol for Buffy, not at all surprised by the taller woman's reply.

"Tomorrow night, and then we'll talk about next week", Pat let her know, "we don't want to do it in some sort of pattern so we won't get predictable."

"Good thinking", Willow complimented, making her smirk yet again; then, the redhead tucked the phone back into her pocket and asked the taller woman if she was up for cuddling on the couch, the answer coming in form of an enthusiastic nod and making her giggle once more; they shared another gentle kiss, then moved back to the living room, taking their drinks along and getting comfortable on the couch there, taking the chance given to relax and just to enjoy each other's company.

* * *

When her ringtone echoed through the dark apartment, Willow at first didn't even recognize it, too disoriented from being torn out of deep slumber by the sudden, unexpected invasion of loud sound; next to her, Pat grunted and rolled over, rubbing her good eye as she forced it open, her voice even lower and hoarser than usual when she asked what was going on.

"My phone", Willow grumbled in reply, "this better be important…" With a hearty yawn, she sat up and, blinded by the display's bright glare, groped for the phone on the nightstand; somehow, she managed to pick it up without dropping it, her heart skipping a beat when she recognized the number as the one which had messaged her earlier that day, despite her still half-asleep state.

"Who is this?" she snapped into the phone after taking the call, not bothering to even greet the caller, "do you have any idea what time it is?"

Next to her, the demon sat up as well, running both hands through her tousled hair as she gave her a confused look, an expression which quickly changed into a frown when the witch went on. "And stop just panting into my ear! Say something!"

"Hang up", Pat mumbled next to her, making her look at her, "he's not gonna talk to you, he just wants to hear your voice. Hang up."

Since it was clear that the taller woman was right, with the caller saying nothing, but just breathing into her ear, Willow did just that after a moment; she still took the time to put her phone on mute, just in case they would call again, then let herself fall back down onto the mattress, grimacing in dismay as she checked the time on her alarm clock.

"Who calls at three o'clock in the morning and then says nothing?" she then wanted to know, rolling on her side so she could look at her partner; doing the same, the taller woman scooted closer to her on the bed, then put one arm around her waist, in a gesture of both comfort and protection, knowing that this was just what the witch needed now.

"Someone who wants to hear your voice", she repeated her previous words, "for whatever reason. I bet you'll have a ton of missed calls when you check your phone tomorrow morning."

"What a weirdo", Willow muttered, snuggling closer to the demon and prompting her to rub her back soothingly again, "remind me to put my phone on mute tomorrow before we go to bed."

Letting out a vaguely agreeing noise, sensing that the redhead wasn't willing to talk further about this and what it might mean now, Pat just pulled her even closer, moving her hand up to caress her hair tenderly; and she kept doing so until her partner had fallen asleep, then laid awake for quite some time, looking up at the ceiling as she asked herself if she was overthinking this and what she could do if her suspicion was right, not sure how she could help her partner, should her fears about this strange caller and his behaviour turn out to be justified.


	3. Chapter 3

In the next morning, Willow had almost forgotten the late night call when her alarm clock rang and tore her out of her slumber once more; she quickly silenced it, not wanting to wake her partner, then sat up and ran both hands through her hair, only remembering the strange phone call when she glanced at her phone and saw that she had twenty-six missed calls, all of them from same number and made between three and four a.m.

"Jesus Christ", she muttered to herself, asking herself if the caller really had expected her to take another call after waking her up and then not saying anything; another look told her that three messages had been left on her voicemail, and she remembered what her partner had said about the caller just wanting to hear her voice, grimacing as she realized that she had left the classic "Hi, this is Willow, leave a message" greeting as her voicemail announcement.

Even though she already suspected that she wouldn't hear anything but breathing, she listened to the messages while she got out of bed and into the bathroom; and as expected, all she heard was breathing on all three, figuring that the caller just had been too slow about ending the call during those and had learned for the ones after, since all three messages had been left minutes after each other.

Shaking her head to herself at this behaviour, the witch put the phone on the board above the sink, then started her morning routine; and while she brushed her teeth, she couldn't help herself, but had to think of what they had learned in psychology class about stalking, knowing all too well that the calls and the messages, along with the admiration the caller had claimed to feel for her, were a bright red flag.

_Just what we need, _she thought to herself as she washed out her mouth, then started combing her by now quite long hair, the copper strands curling over her shoulders and down her back, _some creep stalking me… Maybe I should go on patrol with Pat tonight, the sight of vampires and how she finishes them might scare him off._

The thought made her smile, and she realized that, perhaps, it wasn't such a bad idea; they had been told during psychology lessons that reasoning didn't work with stalkers, and that they usually just stopped after having been put in prison for violating restraining orders, but she doubted that anyone ever had thought of letting the stalker see how their partner beat up supernatural creatures without even breathing heavier.

Making a mental note to ask Pat about this and if she thought it was a good idea, she finished with her hair and went through the rest of her morning hygiene; and once she had gotten done, she grabbed her phone and made her way back to the bedroom, finding the demon still fast asleep there, hugging the pillow now that the witch had gotten out of bed, snoring softly, the sight so cute that it made the redhead smile slightly.

Momentarily tempted to take a picture, she stood a bit longer and just watched her, pondering how happy she was to have her in her life and how she never grew bored of her, even after several years of being together; then, she finally tore herself out of her stupor and moved to the cupboard, quickly choosing her clothing for the day, in form of a cream-coloured blouse and black jeans, holding back the urge to hum to herself as she took off her pyjamas and put on fresh underwear, then the clothes, with as little noise as possible, not wanting to wake the taller woman up.

Still, not wanting to leave without a little kiss, she moved over to the slumbering demon and kissed her tenderly on the cheek; she earned a low grunt in reply and giggled to herself, then whispered "See you later" to her before she left the bedroom, carefully closing the door behind herself.

A quick glance at her wristwatch told her that she still had half an hour before she had to leave for college, and she made her way to the kitchen, figuring she might as well have some coffee before she had to go; there still was some left from a can Pat had made the previous evening, and since by now, she had gotten used to drinking day-old coffee, she warmed a cup of it in the living room, using her phone to scroll through the news as she leaned against the kitchen counter and slowly drank it, imagining how the caffeine started its way through her system and fired up her heart rate as she did so.

Moments later, her heart rate did speed up, albeit for other reasons – the phone vibrated in her hand, signalling yet another message, and she swallowed heavily, already knowing from which number it had come before she even opened it and read what it said.

_Good morning. Slept well?_

Frowning, she glared at the screen, momentarily tempted to use magic to find out who exactly was doing this; then, she realized that it might not be easy as her first impulse to do it had made her believe, the witch still remembering well how much more difficult it had been to do a locator spell for someone she'd been given personal items of, and without those to aid her, it'd be harder even to have any success.

Deciding not to write back this time, she just tucked the phone into her pocket and finished her coffee, not feeling like using the device any longer; she felt it vibrate again a few minutes later, but decided not to look at it this time, not wanting to know what the creep had written now that she hadn't responded.

_Well, sooner or later, you'll have to look, _she told herself, dismay showing on her face as she put the now emptied cup into the dishwasher; she let out a small sigh, then figured that she might as well leave for college now, grimacing again when she realized that Buffy and she would only share the third class she'd have that day and that she wouldn't see her best friend until then.

"Don't be silly, now", she then scolded herself as she moved to the small anteroom and put on her shoes and jacket there, then grabbed her book bag from where she had placed it next to the door, "just because some creep calls you in the middle of the night and sends you creepy messages, you don't have to freak out. You've faced much worse than that…"

After that little pep talk, she felt surprisingly more confident, and pulled out her phone again at last, checking the message; the content didn't really surprise her, but confirmed what she had been thinking about in the bathroom, only strengthening her determination to accompany her partner on patrol, just in case he was watching her, and make sure that he saw what her girlfriend could do.

_Ignoring me won't make me go away._

* * *

"This is really creepy", Buffy said out loud what Willow had been thinking as she read through the messages and scrolled through the numerous times he had called, "and he didn't say anything when he called?"

"No, he just breathed into the phone", the redhead sighed, taking her phone back and putting it back into her pocket; after the message she had read before she had left the apartment, none more had been sent, but she constantly found herself checking the phone for a new one, almost anticipating the feeling of the device vibrating against her upper leg in her pocket.

"Pat said he just wanted to hear my voice", she added, "which is why he hasn't said anything. And when he made those other twenty-six calls, he probably just did it to listen to my voicemail…"

"Creepy", Buffy repeated, giving her friend a concerned look, "do you think maybe you should tell someone about this? The dean of students perhaps, or the police?"

"Not sure", Willow sighed, "I doubt there is much the dean can do, and the police… What if they decide they have to put me under surveillance to find him? That will make things really difficult, what with the whole helping-the-Slayer and the magic."

While Buffy nodded her agreement to that, and voiced her opinion about how police in Sunnydale was mostly useless anyway, the witch took another sip of her drink – and suddenly, the hair at back of her neck stood on end as a shudder ran down her spine, the feeling that someone was watching her suddenly so strong that it was impossible to ignore.

"Buffy", she mumbled, interrupting the blonde's rant about the uselessness of the police, the alarm in her voice prompting her best friend to fall silent at once and give her a concerned look, "he's watching, I can feel it…"

Not doubting her for even a second, the Slayer glanced around in response, trying to spot the one who was apparently watching so intently that the redhead could feel it; to her dismay though, all the other students in class were looking somewhere else, either down on their books or at the one sitting next to them, but none of them looking at her or her best friend.

"I can't see anyone", she mumbled, keeping her voice low, "but they might have noticed me looking and looked away…"

"Probably", Willow sighed, looking around as well, knowing that her hope to make eye contact with the one who had been staring at her was unrealistic, but unable to help herself, "I thought about his behaviour in the bathroom this morning and, even though I don't like the thought, it does come across rather stalker-ish… Watching me only undermines that theory, but of course he won't want to be caught doing just that then…"

"You think he's a stalker?" Buffy hissed, rather horrified – so far, they had dealt with all kinds of supernatural evil, and thus not much could faze her anymore in that territory, but if her friend was right, they now had to face a purely human threat, and she had to admit that this was something she wasn't very used to. After all, even the humans who had been after her so far had been using the supernatural elements of Sunnydale for aid or had been working for them, and as far as she could remember, they never had had a purely human opponent before who hadn't used magic or demons to help him reach his goal.

"Unfortunately, yes", Willow had to admit, looking around again, as if she could spot the culprit just by looking often enough, "and I'm pretty sure Pat thinks the same, she only didn't say anything yet so I wouldn't be worried. What he did so far is textbook behaviour though… Especially if what my instincts are telling me right now is right and he's watching me as we speak."

As if the culprit had heard her, her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she actually flinched this time; she exchanged a look with Buffy, then pulled the device out and displayed the message, swallowing heavily at what it said.

_You can't see me, _the creep had written, as if to make sure she knew that he was around, _but I can see you. Looking good today, especially that blouse. Cream really brings out your hair._

"This just has gone beyond creepy", Buffy mumbled, glancing around once more, to no avail, just as unable to spot anyone with suspicious behaviour as Willow had been earlier; if the culprit still was holding his phone, he wasn't really standing out, since several people in the class were doing just that, passing the time until the professor would arrive and the lecture would start.

"Call the number", she said a moment later, as a thought hit her, "maybe we'll be lucky for once and he forgot to put it on mute!"

Even though she hardly doubted that this person would make such a grave mistake, Willow nodded, quickly selecting the number and pushing the button which started the call; again, she looked around as she heard the beeping which signalled an open line, trying to spot anyone who might react to the phone in their hands beginning to vibrate or even to ring. If the culprit was still holding the phone though, he hid his reaction remarkably well; none of the students with phones in their hands reacted in any way that might tell her about an incoming call, and she made a face when hers went to voicemail, unfortunately not being a personalized one like hers, but the generic computer voice the service providers offered until the customer found time to record his own message.

"Dammit", she grumbled under her breath, ending the call, "no such luck. Did you notice anything?"

"No", Buffy had to admit, feeling bad for her friend as she looked around once more, "if it startled him, he hid it quite well…"

The phone vibrated in her hand yet again before she could say anything in reply, and once more, she flinched, cursing herself for this all too visible reaction, but unable to help herself; she exchanged a look with Buffy, then took in a deep breath and let the message be displayed, her heart skipping a beat when she read it.

_Stop trying to find me. We'll meet on my terms, when I want to, and not a second sooner._

"Christ", Buffy mumbled, looking at her friend in worry, "not that I want to appear overreacting or anything, but… Maybe you should call Pat and ask her to pick you up. Honestly, I don't like the thought of you going home alone with this creep anywhere near you…"

"Yeah, you're right", Willow had to admit, "I'll call her after class… Oh boy, the guy better don't show his face then, cause she'll beat the snot out of him right then and there."

"That might scare him off", Buffy gave back with a smile, to her relief managing to make her best friend smile as well, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she replied. "Yeah, actually, I thought about going on patrol with her tonight… Just in case he's watching then, too, it might scare him off to see that my girlfriend can kick ass and take names without breaking into a sweat. Or set herself on fire."

"If that doesn't scare him off, he's really crazy", the Slayer giggled, making the witch nod her agreement; and then, finally, the professor entered the class and they both fell silent, Willow hurriedly putting her phone away, slightly relieved when it didn't vibrate again for the rest of the lesson, even though her mind never quite left the mysterious culprit, pondering what other ways to upset her he might come up with before they'd find out who he was.


	4. Chapter 4

Right after the lesson, Willow called her girlfriend, as she had said she would, relieved when Pat took the call at once and didn't sound as if she had been woken up by it; instead, there was a hint of concern in her voice since usually, Willow didn't call her from college unless something had come up.

"Well, something did kinda come up", the redhead had to admit after the demon had asked her just that, "maybe both Buffy and me are overreacting, but… I got messages again today, and from what they were saying, the guy was watching me. So I wanted to ask if you could pick me up after class."

"What?" the demon snapped, sounding so alarmed that it nearly made the witch flinch yet again, "he was watching you? How do you know?"

"He wrote that he could see me", Willow explained, looking around again as she talked, Buffy next to her doing the same, "and, well… He knew the colour of my blouse, so…"

"Crap", the taller woman swore in reply, "what a creep… of course I'll pick you up. I'll wait right outside the lecture hall. Your last class ends at three, right?"

"Yes", Willow confirmed, momentarily impressed that her partner knew her schedule so well, "and thanks… As I said, maybe we're overreacting, but…"

"It's better to be safe than sorry", Pat finished for her, "and the guy is displaying classic stalker tendencies, so I'll be right there when you step out of that lecture hall."

"Thank you", the witch expressed her gratitude once more, "see you at three then… Love you."

"I love you, too", the demon let her know, and she could practically hear the smile on her face, "and don't let that guy freak you out too much, alright?"

"Trying", Willow gave back, smiling weakly, her smile widening slightly when she felt Buffy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "but it's kinda frightening that he can see me and I have no idea who he is…"

"I imagine", Pat said, sympathy in her voice, "but luckily, your girlfriend has two centuries of assassin experience, and I'll use just that to see if I can spot him. Don't worry, we'll find him and put a stop to this…"

"I know", Willow replied, once more wishing for her partner's confidence, "I trust you, Sweetie… You and your skills. But I gotta hang up now, my next class is starting soon."

"Alright", the demon agreed, "see you at three then. And take care until then."

"I will", the witch promised, then ended the call; and just as she wanted to put the phone back, it vibrated once more, prompting her to briefly close her eyes as she immediately recognized the number.

"It's him again", she then mumbled, "another message…" Scooting closer to she could look at it too, Buffy squeezed her shoulder comfortingly while she pushed the button which showed the message, the Slayer grumbling audibly at the words, briefly making Willow wonder if Pat was rubbing off on her.

_Calling in reinforcements? Unlike many others here, I'm not scared of your girlfriend._

"So he's been within hearing distance?" Buffy asked, looking around yet again, but only spotting regular looking students, suddenly wishing that the culprit at least would stand out, perhaps look creepy or laugh maniacally to himself, "this is getting worse and worse."

"Apparently", Willow muttered, staring at the phone, "but if he's not scared of her, he's making his first mistake. She'll beat him to a pulp if she gets her hands on him, no matter if he's… normal or not. And I hope he heard that."

"Nice save", Buffy whispered, making the witch smile and nod; they both glanced around once more, then got moving again, making their way to the next class together, giving their best to appear normal and unworried, not wanting the culprit to see how much his behaviour was upsetting his victim and how well his little mind games were working out so far.

* * *

Just as she had promised, Pat was waiting in front of the lecture hall when it ended, smiling the moment her gaze met Willow's; several of the other students gave her curious looks, as always when she showed up on campus, but others had seen her often enough now to not care anymore, a few of them even nodding a greeting to her as they passed her.

"Hey", the demon greeted her partner as soon as she was close enough to hear her, briefly embracing her and kissing her tenderly, then asking in a low voice if the stalker had sent another message, briefly relieved when Willow shook her head.

"Not since this one", she then let the taller woman know, showing her the text about the reinforcements, "so apparently he knows you and the part you have in my life."

"Hmhm", Pat let out, distracted by the other messages as she scrolled through them and read them quickly, "and these others are classic stalker-behaviour as well. Really, he could be out of a textbook. Especially the one about how cream brings out your hair."

"You've had experience with something like that?" Willow wanted to know, looking at her curiously, "did someone ever stalk you?"

"Not me", the demon gave back, handing the phone back to her, "one of my… clients. She asked me to help her get rid of the stalker. I'll tell you more once we're home."

"Alright", the redhead agreed at once, knowing that this barely was a conversational topic for campus; she glanced around once again, then told herself that she had to stop this if she didn't want to end up driving herself paranoid and grasped her partner's hand, nodding when the black haired woman asked her if she was ready to go.

"How were your classes?" the taller woman wanted to know as they walked off campus together, "apart from the creepy dude sending you creepy messages, that is."

"Okay", Willow shrugged, "interesting. And of course one professor found it necessary again to point out that soon, it's time to hand in the dissertations. So I really gotta sit down and work on mine… I should in fact get started tonight, but…"

"But what?" Pat asked, raising an eyebrow, only to smirk when her partner continued, clearly warming up to her idea.

"I thought about going with you, you know, later", the redhead explained, "so, just in case he watches then, too, he can see what you can do…"

"That might frighten him into quitting", the demon nodded, immediately picking up her train of thought, "it's worth a try. And you know I like having you around, even while I'm… doing Buffy's job."

Nodding, Willow squeezed her hand, making her smile widen slightly, the redhead feeling considerably more at ease once her partner and she had left campus, even though she knew that nothing would stop the culprit from watching her outside of college as well; still the feeling that something was watching her was gone, and she hoped that it'd stay that way, that she'd at least have peace until the classes resumed in the next day.

For a moment, she felt tempted to pull out her phone and look at it, then told herself not to and that it only would make her feel more paranoid than she already did; instead, she focused on her partner, asking her when she was planning to leave in the evening and where she wanted to go, the taller woman shrugging before she replied.

"I thought I'd go at ten", she let the witch know, "and check the cemetery close to the Presbyterian church, Buffy said it's been a while since she went there."

"Fine with me", Willow shrugged, "thankfully, my first class is at eleven tomorrow, so it won't matter if we come home late."

"With the two of us, it shouldn't take too long", the taller woman confidently smirked, making her partner's smile widen; the two beamed at each other for a moment, stopping to share a brief kiss before they resumed walking, the redhead still fighting down the urge to look over her shoulder every now and then, just to make sure no one was following them.

"Stop it", Pat's voice distracted her from those thoughts, "you're doing just what he wants."

"How can you tell?" Willow wanted to know, honestly surprised; shrugging, the demon gave her a wry smile, keeping her voice low when she replied so people around wouldn't hear what she was saying.

"I know you", she answered truthfully, "and from how you're all tense, I know you're itching to turn around and see if somebody's following us. And that's just what he wants, to make you insecure and paranoid and frightened. I know it's not easy, but you can't give in to these feelings."

"Why me?" Willow grumbled in reply, suddenly feeling miserable about the whole situation, "honestly, you'd think I have more than enough on my plate, what with helping the Slayer on a regular basis and keeping the world from ending again and again. Now some psycho student is stalking me? Why me? There are hundreds of prettier girls on campus!"

"You didn't look into a mirror lately, did you", Pat dryly replied, making her smile despite her distress about the situation, "and I'd bet my fortune that it's not just your looks he's attracted to. Don't forget, you're almost like their poster child, and known around campus for your intellect. If he admires that in a woman, well…"

"Now, for once, I wish I was an average student", Willow sighed out, only to end up startled a moment later as the demon stopped walking and turned to face her fully, shaking her head while she tenderly took her face into her hands, her expression so serious that for a moment, the witch was concerned about having made her angry now – before she answered, blowing all those doubts away and causing her heart to speed up in her chest.

"Never do that", the taller woman sincerely told her, her thumbs tenderly caressing her cheeks, "never ask to be anything else than what you are because of this creep. Yes, he's after you because you're beautiful and smart, and he might have chosen someone else if you weren't, but never let him get so much control over you that you want to change any of that just to get rid of him."

"I'm trying", Willow replied, swallowing heavily as she had to admit to herself how much this was bothering her, despite how shortly it had been going on, "but… it's so nerve-wracking. I'm constantly waiting for my phone to vibrate because he sent another message or because he's calling again…"

"I know", the taller woman reassured her, her voice now down to a low rumble, sending shivers up and down the witch's spine despite the serious topic of their talk, "but that's just another thing he wants. And I promise it'll be over soon, we'll find out who this guy is and I'll beat him until he promises he'll never go near you again. I'll break his bones one by one if I have to until he sings the song we want to hear, no one messes with my girl and gets away with it."

"That was kinda sweet, in a demonic way", the redhead told her with a weak smile, making her smirk before she shrugged and, still in a low voice, reminded her of her demonic nature; then, she bent down to kiss her briefly, but tenderly, and neither of them heard the soft click of the camera not all too far away as it took their picture, one of many which had been taken during that day.


	5. Chapter 5

"You gonna take the Staff along?" Pat asked in the late evening of the same day, while going through her collection of weapons and arming herself for the evening, slightly surprising the witch when she chose to only take along a stake and a rather simple dagger she strapped to her ankle so it'd be hidden in her boot, instead of carrying the large battle-axe she usually preferred to wield.

"You think I should?" she asked in reply, glancing at said Staff, a short piece of wood; it looked harmless enough to the unknowing observer, but both the witch and the demon were well aware of the object's true power, of how it lengthened and thickened the moment Willow touched it, turning into a formidable weapon which, to make it even more dangerous, more or less fought on its own, only needing the witch to hold on to it and to let herself be led by it.

"Might not hurt", the demon shrugged, "if our creepy new friend is watching, it might give him pause to see that you can very much hold your own."

Nodding, Willow had to admit that her partner was right about that, smiling slightly when she pointed out her lack of big weaponry next, asking her if there was a special reason why she didn't take her favourite axe along.

"Yup", the taller woman gave back at once, her next words making her wonder how much exactly she knew about stalkers and their behaviour; she had given her a quick recollection of the client and of the things the woman's stalker had done to frighten her and make her feel insecure in her own home, also of how she had tracked the man down at last and had gotten rid of him, but still Willow had the feeling that she was holding some things back, most likely in an attempt not to frighten her of what might still come before her stalker was found and confronted.

"If he sees that I have a megalomaniac toothpick and a dagger, he might reconsider", Pat explained, holding up the stake as if to underline her words, "but just in case he doesn't, the moment I come at him with a bigass axe he knew nothing about before might change his mind."

"Let's hope that both of us kicking ass will be enough to change his mind", Willow grumbled, moving to where the Staff rested leaned against the side of her wardrobe; since she didn't want it to spring into action right away, she made sure to touch it only where the leather wraps kept her skin from making direct contact with the wood, holding it slightly uneasily while she looked at her partner again.

"Because if not", she then went on, while they both left the bedroom and made their way to the small anteroom, putting on their shoes and jackets there, "Buffy made this joke today about how he's really crazy if not, but now that I think about it, she might have been more right than she realized."

"We'll see", Pat gave back, placing a calming hand on her upper arm after stepping into her boots and making sure that the dagger was both hidden and still easily accessible, "we don't even know if he'll be around."

"I have the feeling he will be", Willow let her know with a small sigh, "but you're right, there's no use in coming up with gruesome What If scenarios now… Ready to go?"

"Yup", the taller woman both answered her question and agreed to her statement; she gave her another reassuring smile, then unlocked the apartment door and stepped outside, the witch right behind her, once more fighting down the urge to look left and right as she made her way to the elevator with her partner.

With her grip on the Staff tightening slightly, she asked herself what she would do, should the culprit jump out at her from some shadowy corner during patrol; after her loss of control years ago and the horrible things it had made her do to Warren, she had promised herself that she'd never use magic against another human being again, and so far, she had mostly managed to keep that promise, but on the other hand, she wasn't sure if she'd manage to stick to it, should the stalker threaten her life – or her partner, in an attempt to get rid of the woman she loved, a person who surely stood in the way of whatever twisted plans he might have.

_As if he'd be able to do much damage to her, _she tried to calm herself down, entering the elevator with her partner, _she's a centuries old fire demon, and he's just a human student in his early twenties._

This thought led to the mental image of her lover snarling and growling at the man in question – for some unknown reason, she was quite sure that the culprit was male – and making him piss his pants by showing him some of her fire tricks; she held back a giggle as she imagined him run away in fear, a snort still escaping her despite her best tries and prompting the taller woman to ask what was so funny.

"Oh, I just imagined how you'd scare that guy off", she explained in reply, leaving the apartment building with her, "by glaring at him with your glowing gaze of rage and maybe showing him a few of the things you can do with fire."

"Yeah, I imagine why this is funny", the black haired woman chuckled, then briefly let go of her hand to dig out her cigarettes; she lit one of them up, using a regular lighter instead of a flame she made appear on her finger since there were still people around who might have asked questions otherwise, then grasped the witch's hand again, taking a drag of her cigarette before she asked the smaller woman if she wanted to walk to the cemetery or take the bus.

"Walk", Willow decided at once, "it's not that far, and after sitting around at college at day, I don't mind a little workout."

"Don't forget that you might end up fighting later on", the demon smirked in reply, "that should be workout enough. But walking's fine with me. Also, if he's really following you again, walking might make him easier to spot."

"Good point", the redhead nodded, now looking around after all; the people she could spot though didn't look in any way stalker-ish, and she didn't recognize any of them from campus, even though she knew that, with the number of students at UC Sunnydale, it was impossible to know all the faces.

"See anyone you know?" the taller woman asked in a low voice, not surprised when the witch shook her head – if the stalker really was following them right this moment, he surely would be smarter than just doing so out in the open where he could be spotted easily.

"Don't worry", Pat went on a moment later, squeezing her hand reassuringly, "he'll slip up sooner or later. I doubt he's a pro, and the amateurs always do. Until then, just try to ignore him and relax."

"Doing my best", Willow reassured her, making her smile down on her; she squeezed her hand once more, then changed the topic away from the stalker by asking her the first random question about her studies which came to her mind, the redhead quite thankful for her lover's attempt to take her mind off the creep, telling herself while she answered the question that surely, Pat was right and the culprit would make a mistake sooner or later, giving them the chance to confront him and put an end to his behaviour before it might go too far.

* * *

Half an hour later, the couple had reached the cemetery, and, to their relief, any mourners who might have been visiting the graves there had left by the time they arrived, making sure that no civilians would be caught in the upcoming fight; and that a fight was not far away was clear from the moment they walked through the gate, already hearing the growls and snarls of at least two vampires nearby.

"Seems like we came just in time to prevent them from venturing outside", Pat commented, already pulling out her stake while Willow figured that it was better to be prepared and removed the leather wrappings, the Staff immediately growing in her grasp, lengthening and thickening until it was the weapon she had used with so much success during their last adventure; and the moment the process was finished, the couple started moving without a word being necessary between them, quickly finding the vampires, three of them banding together, clearly preparing for a killing spree in the nightly town.

"Hey, boys", Pat called out, gaining their attention, and, from their reaction, being recognized at once by them – they all recoiled, one even taking a step back, their eyes widening and their lips pulling back to expose their fangs.

"Seems like they know who you are", Willow smirked, not really surprised – after aiding the Slayer for years, the demon was known as "Slayer's pet" to a big part of Sunnydale's supernatural population, and thanks to her rather distinctive hair and the eyepatch, she wasn't hard to recognize, either.

"Indeed we know", the one who had stepped back snarled, clearly regaining some of his composure, even daring to move forward again, "the Slayer's pet demon and her little witch-bitch. Where did you leave your blonde friend?"

"She's got the evening off", Pat amiably replied – and then she exploded into motion, moving so fast that Willow barely could follow her, the only reaction she allowed the vampires being a startled gasp before she had grabbed the one closest to her and hauled him over one shoulder, sending him flying until a gravestone stopped him rather harshly.

While he still was in the air, she already had turned to face the next one, blocking his punch with ease, then returning one of her own, hard enough to make him stagger back; and while she moved closer as well, the Staff firmly in her grasp, Willow briefly asked herself if the demon was making an extra effort to show off her speed and strength, just in case the stalker really was watching, a suspicion which was only strengthened when the taller woman finished off the first vampire not by simply staking him, but by grabbing him and, with her muscles bulging visibly beneath her jacket and a loud, throaty growl, sent him flying, dusting him by throwing him right on a protruding branch of a nearby tree.

Then, one of the two remaining vampires focused on her and she had to stop pondering her girlfriend's current fighting style, forced to concentrate on her opponent; and just as it had during the last few fights she had used it, the Staff took over the moment she relaxed enough to allow just that, stopping the vampire's approaching by slamming into his stomach with the blunt end and whacking him hard across the back the moment he doubled over in pain.

"Good going", Pat complimented her, briefly making her look at her while the Staff moved again, sweeping the vampire's legs out from underneath him and making him fall, "catch!"

With the last word, she tossed her the stake, and the redhead caught it easily, realising at once why her partner was insistent that she'd do the dusting; and this was just what she did, dropping down to her knees next to the vampire and ramming the stake into his chest, hitting the heart with the practice of years and ending his undead existence before he could do more than snarl at her during his vain tries to get back up.

For a moment, she wondered if she should throw the stake back to her partner, now that there was just one vampire left, then turned to see that this wasn't exactly necessary – the vampire she had thrown against the gravestone just minutes ago still had been trying to come to his feet again when she had advanced on him, now having him in a chokehold from behind, holding him so that the redhead could easily stake him, without having to do more than approach him and ram the stake into his chest.

Quickly, before the vampire might manage to free himself somehow, she moved over to him, bringing the stake up; his eyes widened at the sight and he actually started to plead her not to do this, then the wood was rammed into his chest and right into his heart, the taller woman holding on to nothing but thing air a few seconds later, dusting off her sleeves with a look of slight disgust as soon as the vampire had been disintegrated.

"Well, that was quick", she then commented, handing the stake back to her lover at last and watching how she tucked it into her belt, "good job with throwing that one against the tree."

"Thanks", the demon smirked, glancing around as she tried to spot any more vampires, not sure if those three had been all this particular cemetery had spat out for the night, "I tried to be extra-impressive in case he's watching. Think that worked?"

"Hopefully", Willow gave back while the black haired woman found her cigarettes and put one into her mouth, "too bad you didn't have to flame up, that might have impressed him extra."

"Oh, you mean like this?" the taller woman smirked, then let her whole hand flame up to light up her cigarette, making Willow giggle at the sheer exaggeration before she nodded, making sure that the flames were gone again before she stepped closer to embrace her partner.

"So", she murmured, experiencing feelings similar to what Buffy and Pat felt after a successful fight, "you wanna keep this up or go home and impress me with your… other set of skills?"

While she spoke, she ran her hands up and down the demon's back, and the low growl she let out in reply was the only answer Willow had needed; and since no one was around to see them, except perhaps for more vampires, she pulled her down for a rather heated kiss, pressing herself against her, the soft moan she let out muffled by the taller woman's mouth on hers as she felt strong arms wrap around her and hold her close.

"Let's go", the demon growled after they had pulled apart again, not really surprising her partner, "and quick, before I lose my patience and undress you right here."

"That'd be creepy", Willow giggled, suddenly feeling giddy as she grasped her hand and hurried for the cemetery gates with her; to her amusement, the demon just shrugged in reply, making her laugh again as they left the cemetery and headed home, eager to return to the privacy of their apartment and make the best possible use of it.


	6. Chapter 6

In the next morning, Willow still felt relaxed and content when the alarm clock rang and tore her out of her dreams, thanks to the activities of the previous night before going to sleep; and even when she checked her phone and saw that she had fifteen missed calls again, once more between three and four a.m., she didn't let this upset her, simply shaking her head and deleting the notice from the display before she got out of bed.

"Gettingupalready", Pat mumbled into her pillow, making her giggle before she told her that she had to; bending over her, she tenderly moved some hair out of the demon's face, then kissed her on the cheek, prompting her to let out a vaguely approving noise.

"My last class ends at four today", she then told her, "would you…?"

"Gonna pick you up", the demon reassured her at once, a bit more coherent as she rolled on her back so she could look up at the standing witch, "at the lecture hall again."

"Thank you", the witch smiled, kissing her once more, on the lips this time, before she made her way into the bathroom; she went through her usual morning hygiene there, along with taking a shower this time since she hadn't had time for one the previous evening, only then realizing with dismay that the shampoo she normally used was almost empty.

Grimacing, but figuring that she could use her girlfriend's shampoo this one time, she did just that, washing her hair quickly, then the rest of her body, glad that at least, there still was enough of her shower gel to do so; she made a mental note to buy more of both after her lectures that day, then got done with her shower and pulled the curtain aside, grabbing one of the fresh towels and wrapping herself up in it after rubbing most of the wetness from her skin before she took hold of a second, smaller one for her hair and wrapped that up, as well.

Once she could be sure she wouldn't drip all over the bathroom, she got out of the shower and moved to the washbasin, guiltily glancing at the bathroom door leading to the bedroom – before she started blow-drying her hair, knowing that it might wake her partner up again, but also aware of the fact that she was prone to end up sick, should she got outside with wet hair.

To her amusement, she heard the demon growl in the bedroom, imagining how she tried to stuff the pillow into her ears to drown out the noise; still, despite how much this amused her, she hurried to get done quickly, finally satisfied once her hair was mostly dry, even humming softly to herself as she combed it out once more, then finally made her way back to the bedroom.

Part of her wondered if the fact that, during the night, the stalker had called again, and thus showed that he wasn't really scared off, either not having seen Pat and her fight or not caring, shouldn't upset her more; on the other hand though, she knew that there wasn't much she could do about it right now anyway, apart from feeling glad that at least this time, he hadn't left any messages and hadn't sent any texts so far, either.

It didn't take her long to choose what she'd wear that day, and to put those clothes on; then, she moved to the bed, bending over her partner once more to kiss her tenderly, letting her know afterwards that she was leaving now, earning a vaguely agreeing grunt in response.

"See you later", the witch smiled, once more amused by how much of a morning grouch her girlfriend could be; she took another moment to caress her hair, then straightened up again and left the bedroom, again humming quietly under her breath as she moved to the anteroom, putting on her shoes and jacket there, rolling her eyes when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket just as she bent down to pick up her bag.

"There we go", she muttered to herself as she pulled out her phone and saw it was a text from what she referred to already as "Creep's Number"; for a moment, she considered just ignoring it, then pushed the button which displayed it after all, rolling her eyes yet again when she saw what the stalker had written this time.

_Good morning. Up surprisingly early, considering you came home quite late yesterday. Had a nice date with your girlfriend?_

The fact that he spoke of a date made it clear to Willow that he hadn't been watching the night before, and she let out a groan, then put the phone back into her pocket – after all, one of the things she had learned in psychology class was that it was best to ignore the messages and calls a stalker might send, and that responding was among the biggest mistakes one could make when dealing with one.

Thus, she didn't bother with sending a reply, but picked up her bag instead and left the apartment; she glanced left and right before she realized what she was doing, cursing herself for this behaviour as she made her way to the elevator, feeling absurdly relieved when it opened and she found herself alone in the cabin.

Even though she still thought that Pat had been holding some things back when she'd talked about how she'd been hired decades ago to take care of a stalker, she shuddered as she thought of one particular part of the tale – how the stalker had waited for his victim at her home and had threatened her, nearly causing her bodily harm, a neighbour just out of sheer coincidence rescuing her at the last second, merely by coming home at the right moment.

_Good thing she didn't tell you all the gruesome details, _she had to admit to herself, stepping out of the elevator and making her way out of the apartment building and to the bus station, not feeling like walking, _you're on edge enough already as it is, and she sees that just as well, so no surprise she didn't tell you the scarier parts._

To her relief, she didn't need to wait for the bus for long, feeling strangely exposed as she stood at the station; none of the people around seemed to pay any attention on her though, either playing with their phones or reading newspapers or books, only one of them glancing up at her when she looked at him for too long, a frown on his face, clearly asking himself why she was staring at him, prompting her to look away with a blush colouring her cheeks.

Clearing her throat, she had a moment to wonder if she should apologize, then the bus pulled into the station and thankfully took the man's attention away from her; with her cheeks still feeling hot, she got into the vehicle as well, choosing a window seat and staring outside deep in thought, once more asking herself how they could find the stalker and what they would have to do to stop him.

* * *

Thanks to their different schedules, Buffy and Willow didn't share a class that day, but did find time to meet up for lunch; and while they stood in line at the cafeteria, Buffy asked her best friend how taking over her job the night before had gone, relieved when the redhead smiled in response and let her know it had gone just fine.

"We had three", she then told her, making sure not to reveal too much since she didn't want the students behind her to hear anything which might make them wonder what she was talking about, "and it was over real quick."

"I'm glad to hear", Buffy smiled, "not that I was worried you might not do a good job, but Giles was a bit insecure if it was a good idea… Now that it went so well, let's hope he's at ease and won't nag if Pat takes over more often."

"I'm sure he won't", Willow reassured her, moving a few steps forward with the rest of the line, "as I said, we got done quite quickly. I used the Staff, and Pat… well, she was just herself. A bit more vicious than usual maybe, in case my new… friend was watching."

"Speaking of him, have you heard of him again?" Buffy asked in reply, making the redhead nod before she dug out her phone and showed her the latest message; quickly, the Slayer read it, then shook her head, looking up at her again afterwards while she put the phone back into her pocket.

"A date", she then repeated what the message had said, "so he didn't watch you then."

"No", Willow sighed, "or he's lying and decided to ignore what he saw. I doubt it though, he wouldn't sound so cocky if he had seen anything."

"True", Buffy had to admit, shaking her head, "so what did Pat say about the whole mess?"

"She's dealt with something similar before", Willow let her know, finally reaching the display of sandwiches with her and choosing one with ham and cheese, then adding an orange for vitamins and a bottle of juice, "so she's confident she can help. I'm not sure how yet, but I'm sure she'll figure something out."

"Probably", the blonde nodded, "especially if she's encountered a stalker before and knows how they work."

"Well, she did say not all are the same", the witch gave back, still keeping her voice low while she dug out the student card the college used to bill the students for the food they consumed and paid for her lunch, then found a free table with Buffy and sat down, speaking on after they had made themselves comfortable. "She told me that she did some research on stalkers back then, when she had that… case, and that, even if they may use similar methods, it varies on how fast it escalates. And don't forget it's been decades since she had that case, our guy has much more possibilities."

"Aw man", Buffy complained as an answer, "here I was getting all confident about your girlfriend finding that guy and kicking his ass before the week is over, and now you have to say this and ruin it all."

"Sorry?" Willow gave back, smiling slightly; after a moment, Buffy smiled back at her, then took a large bite of her sandwich, rendering herself mute for a minute and prompting Willow to do the same – only for the redhead to nearly choke on her food a moment later as she felt the hair at the back of her neck stand on end yet again, once more accompanied by the strong feeling that someone was watching her.

Remembering what Pat had said about how looking around for the culprit was just what he wanted, she forced herself to not do just that, instead focusing on her food with all her willpower; and after the longest minute in her life, the feeling passed, and she let out a heavy breath, prompting Buffy to ask her if she was okay.

"…yeah", she mumbled after a moment of regaining her composure, "he was staring at me again, I could feel it, but Pat said that acting worried and looking around for him is just what he wants, so I didn't do that…"

"She might be right", the Slayer nodded, now having to fight down the urge to look around herself, "I may not always be paying attention in class, but I do remember that the professor said that what stalkers want most is the attention of their victims. So if you just ignore him…"

"It might either make him give up", Willow finished for her, "unlikely as this is, or it might make him try to confront me, so he'll reveal himself. And once we know who he is, Pat will want to pay him a visit."

"Please remind her that he's human then, and that she shouldn't kill him", Buffy grimaced, making the witch giggle slightly, "the last thing we need after this mess is police investigating your partner."

"I'll try to hold her back", Willow promised, "but she did say something about breaking his bones one by one until he'd promise to leave me alone…"

"Not surprising, she's punched out people for much less than what this guy is doing", the blonde gave back, smiling slightly as well now, "but please make sure she keeps in mind not to overdo it."

"Of course", the witch reassured her, then took another bite of her sandwich; Buffy did the same, changing the topic from how violent her best friend's girlfriend might get with the stalker to the upcoming class Willow would have after lunch, asking her how she was doing and if she nervous about the exam she'd soon have to write for it, and even though the redhead immediately saw through the rather lame attempt to change the topic, she was grateful for it, giving her best to let it do what Buffy had attempted, namely take her mind off the stalker, as she answered and told her friend that she wasn't really worried.

"I've been studying, when I haven't been out and about with you guys", she told the blonde while they both finished their lunch, the witch having to hurry slightly due to her next class starting soon, "so I'm not really worried."

"Good", Buffy smiled, finishing the last of her sandwich with one big bite, but at least taking the time to chew and swallow before she spoke on, getting up from her seat as she did so and prompting the witch to do the same, "honestly, I was a bit worried that this guy might freak you out so much you'll mess up your exams…"

"Nah", Willow confidently replied at once, making the blonde's smile widen while they left the cafeteria together, "he'd have to do much worse than a few texts and staring at me from afar to freak me out so badly I mess up my tests."

"Typical", Buffy teased, giggling when Willow shot her a dirty look; then, the redhead smiled as well and shrugged before, slightly regretfully, telling her friend that their ways had to part now since her class was starting in a few minutes.

"Talk to you later then", the Slayer replied, briefly touching her arm, "and take care, alright? Pat's picking you up again?"

"Yeah", Willow nodded, "at the lecture hall, like yesterday, she's not taking any risks with this guy… Talk to you later."

Satisfied with that answer, Buffy nodded, then turned and headed to her own class while Willow made her way to the lecture hall where hers would be held; she quickly found a free seat and took it, and just as she reached into her bag to get out the book and notepad she'd need, her phone vibrated in her pocket, once more making her flinch, a reaction she silently cursed herself for moments later.

_Dammit, _she thought to herself as she fumbled the phone out of the pocket, holding back the urge to roll her eyes as she immediately recognized the number as the creep's, _you really need to stop being so jumpy, or sooner or later, someone will notice._

Taking in a deep breath as unobtrusively as possible, she pushed the button to display the message; and a second later, it felt as if someone had suckerpunched her, knocking all the air out of her as she read what it said, barely able to believe her eyes.

_Your hair smells different today. Changed the shampoo? Or used your girlfriend's? I have to say, I prefer the lavender smell of the previous one. You should use it again soon._

Unable to do anything else than stare at her phone, her mind seemingly competed with her heart to see who could race faster; and even though she tried not to let it show how much these few words freaked her out, she knew that probably everyone who knew her just a little bit only had to take one look at her face to see that something just had really shaken her up, a realization she didn't dwell on for long though as she asked herself when exactly the culprit had gotten so close to her that he had been able to smell her, without her even noticing – and even more than once, something he had made more than clear with just a few simple words, her breath nearly hitching as she had to admit to herself that maybe, this was more serious than all of them had thought so far.


	7. Chapter 7

"Willow?" the girl sitting next to her tore her out of her thoughts, with so much concern in her voice that it touched her despite her upset state, "are you alright? You've gone all pale all of a sudden."

"…yeah", she replied after a moment, and after taking in another deep breath, hoping that the girl wouldn't notice how much her hands were trembling when she put the phone back into her pocket, "I think I… didn't drink enough during the day or something, I just got a bit dizzy for a moment."

"Oh, I know that, it happens to me all the time", the girl – _Brenda, _her brain supplied the name at last, ever helpful, even after just having realized that her stalker had actually sniffed her hair, without her noticing – told her, sympathy in her gaze now, "I have an extra water bottle if you want it?"

"That would be nice, yes", the witch gave back, accepting the bottle when Brenda handed it to her; she quickly took a few deep gulps from it, then thanked the other girl, prompting her to tell her that she shouldn't mention it, putting the bottle into her bag afterwards and finally taking out her book and notepad, focusing on her breathing afterwards, remembering the countless meditation exercises the coven in England had taught her to get her emotions under control.

"Oh the water really must help", Brenda commented next to her, interrupting her careful counting of in and out, "you've regained some colour already."

"…yeah", Willow gave back, even though her heart was starting to speed up again as she found herself unable to stop thinking of the message, once more realizing how close the stalker actually had been to her on more than one occasion, the full implications of his latest message hitting home with considerable delay, suddenly making her feel as if she couldn't breathe anymore.

"I… I'm not feeling well", she made herself say, to Brenda's obvious concern, "I'll… be right back…"

"Maybe you're coming down with something", the other girl gave back, looking at her in worry, "you've gone all pale again."

Not sure what to reply, Willow just nodded, then hurriedly got up from her seat, stuffing her book and notepad back into the bag without caring if she crumpled any of them, a sure sign to anyone who knew her that something indeed was very wrong; all at once, she felt as if the lunch she'd eaten not even half an hour ago was about to make a reappearance, and she almost ran out of the lecture hall, morbidly asking herself if he was there right now, watching her and laughing to himself, knowing that he had caused her sudden exit.

The mental image of him snickering at her obvious distress brought back the thought of how close he had been to her, and she couldn't help herself, but had to imagine how he stood right next to her or behind her, with her having no idea that he was there, taking in deep breaths, savouring her smell; her stomach turned, and she pressed one hand over her mouth as she ran to the next washroom and almost burst into one of the stalls, not even bothering to lock the door as she fell to her knees and threw up, hot tears suddenly burning in her eyes, the redhead not sure if they had been caused by the vomiting or were a belated reaction to the text he had sent her.

By now breathing so heavily that she was almost panting, she leaned back against the stall's door, now grateful that she had a bottle of water she could use to wash her mouth out with; but even after she had done so, she still felt disgusted and strangely dirtied, as if he not only had smelled her, but had touched her, as well, the need to get rid of the smell he had inhaled suddenly so strong that it couldn't be ignored.

_Shower, _was all her mind screamed at her, no matter how much she tried to tell herself that she was overreacting and that this was just what he wanted, as Pat had told her; this didn't help to subdue the frightened and panicking part of her though, and after another dry heave, she gave in to it, coming to her feet once she could be sure she wouldn't throw up again, already figuring out the shortest route to the nearest shower room.

This time, she did look left and right as she stepped out of the washroom, glad that the few people who were on the hallway weren't paying attention on her; still, she asked herself if one of them was her stalker, glancing over her shoulder every now and then as she hurried through the hallways to the closest shower room, her relief only growing when she entered it and found it empty.

As quickly as possible, she stripped out of her clothes, wishing for fresh garments as she entered the nearest shower stall, a shiver running through her as she turned up the hot water, momentarily feeling the urge to make it scalding hot, to make sure every last bit of him she might have on her would be swept away.

Now that she was alone and away from any prying eyes, the tears came at last, rolling down her cheeks as hot as the water which was raining down on her as she had to face how helpless her friends and she were against this new threat; the man doing these things to her could be anyone and anywhere, watching her and even smelling her, and still none of them had the slightest idea who he was, not even knowing what his voice sounded like, thanks to his refusal to talk to her when she'd had him on the phone.

"Dammit", she whispered to herself, wiping at her eyes furiously, "get a hold of yourself, you're one of the most powerful witches on the planet, and you let a few text messages freak you out like that?"

Her little pep talk didn't do her much good, but at least, it helped her to stop the flow of tears before it could turn into an all-out breakdown, with sobbing and everything else required; closing her eyes, she just let the water pour down on her for a while, then looked around for shower gel and shampoo, glad when she found both, briefly thankful to the unknown, but clearly forgetful girl who had left them there.

"No more lavender or girlfriend smell for you, creep", she muttered to herself as she turned off the water, then hurriedly shampooed her hair, washing it as thoroughly as she could; and after washing out the foam, she went on to scrubbing the rest of her body, absurdly glad that neither shampoo, nor shower gel were brands or smells she regularly used.

Only once she had finished washing down and had turned off the water, Willow realized that she didn't have a towel, briefly grimacing at the thought of having to put on her clothes while still dripping wet; then, she remembered what Buffy and she jokingly always had referred to as Last Resort, a box in which clothing, towels and other items students had forgotten or simply left in the laundry room had been stored, just in case they'd remember or change their minds and want it back after all.

"For once, I'm lucky", she muttered to herself as she spotted just that kind of box in the small anteroom between the hallway and the actual shower stalls; hoping that no one would enter just now, she pressed her clothing against her body to at least cover up a bit as she rushed over to the box and opened it, relieved to immediately spot a clean looking towel, quickly pulling it out and using it to rub herself down, doing so as fast as she could, and putting on her clothes again the moment she thought she was dry enough.

The blouse still clung to parts of her quite uncomfortably, but she figured that this was still better than having to get dressed without drying first at all – and infinitely better than having to walk around with the smell he had smelled on her for the rest of the day, or at least until she'd get home.

Now that she felt a bit better, she briefly considered going back to class, then decided against it – even though the flow of tears had stopped and the urge to cry was gone, she still felt close to the edge, and knew that the next message would be enough to push her over yet again, the mere thought of going back to class, where maybe he was sitting, watching and knowing what her wet hair and her red-rimmed eyes meant, nearly made her feel like puking again.

Thus, instead of going back to class, she dug out her phone, fast-dialling Pat's number, relieved when the call was taken after the first ring, the concern she could hear in the taller woman's voice as she greeted her and asked her if something had happened nearly making her cry again.

"Can you come and pick me up?" she asked instead of explaining anything, "now? I'll, I'll wait at the gate… I'll explain later…"

"Of course", Pat replied at once, now giving her best to sound soothing and reassuring, "I'll come as fast as possible, I'll take a taxi, alright?"

"Alright", the redhead agreed, barely above a whisper; the demon still took the time to reassure her that it would be alright, no matter what exactly had happened, and that she loved her, then ended the call, leaving Willow feeling slightly better as she put the phone back and gathered her belongings, then stepped out of the shower room, glancing left and right yet again before she moved down the hallway at a brisk pace, stepping out of the building a minute later and heading for the campus gate, hoping that no more unpleasant things would happen while she'd wait there for her partner.


	8. Chapter 8

To her relief, Pat had apparently managed to find a taxi fairly quickly, since the cab pulled up to the campus gate exactly seventeen minutes later and she almost hopped out of it, then moved up to her with long, fast strides, one look at her face only increasing the concern she already had felt when she had been called and had heard the distress in the witch's voice.

"What happened?" she asked as soon as she was within earshot, already pulling her into an embrace and holding her close; and for a minute or two, Willow found herself unable to reply, just holding on tight to her and inhaling her scent, briefly closing her eyes as she rested her cheek on the taller woman's shoulder and felt the familiar texture of her leather jacket against her skin.

"He sent me another message", she finally found herself able to tell, looking up at her partner again, "and… I don't know, I was freaking out, he really got to me this time, look…" With those words, she got out her phone and handed it to the black haired woman, earning another concerned look before Pat finally looked at the latest message; and seconds later, she was growling lowly in the back of her throat, her good eye even flashing up brightly red for a moment, making it more than obvious how angry the few sentences had made her.

"Alright", she then muttered darkly, glaring at the phone as if it was its fault, "I'll take you home now, and once you've calmed down enough, you'll try to track this number so we'll know who he is. Then I'll pay him a visit and make him regret the day he laid eyes on you."

"Just don't kill him", Willow mumbled in reply, snuggling up as much as she could to her partner without jeopardizing either one's ability to walk as the demon put one arm around her shoulders and started leading her away from the campus gate, "Buffy reminded me of that today, the last thing we need after all this is police showing up at our door, wanting to question you about him."

"I won't kill him", the taller woman grimly reassured her in reply, "but I'll make him wish I did."

"Normally, I should tell you now how violence isn't the answer and that he's still human", Willow mumbled in reply, earning a low snort from her partner, "but I find it hard to feel sympathy for him, he's just too… creepy."

"Indeed he is", Pat agreed at once, using her free hand to dig out her cigarettes and light one of them up, in an attempt to calm down as well, "getting so close to you that he can _sniff _you? That's fucked up."

"Language", Willow admonished almost automatically, "but you're right, he's missing some marbles or something… If at least I knew how his voice sounded, or what he looked like, then I could try a locator spell, but we know nothing about him…"

"We'll find out", the black haired woman promised her in response, stopping their rather slow-paced walk again so she could turn and face her partner, "I promise. We'll find out who he is, I'll take care of him, and he'll never come near you again. Alright?"

Bravely, the witch nodded in reply, even though it was obvious that she wasn't as sure about this as her partner; and almost immediately, she was pulled into yet another hug and held close, a shudder running through her as she let out a watery breath, determined not to cry again, something which was made considerably harder though when Pat started rubbing her back in another attempt to calm her down and soothe her.

"I know it's easier said than done, but don't let him get to you so much", the demon mumbled into her ear, "that's just what he wants. The moment you get scared of your own shadow and jump every time your phone rings, he won, and you know that."

"Yes", the witch confirmed, angrily wiping at her eyes, "I know… Part of me knows, but I can't stop thinking about it, when did he get so close to me and I didn't even notice? And was he there when I freaked out in the lecture hall because of that stupid text and ran off? I wish we knew _something _about him…"

"We'll find out", the taller woman reassured her yet again, still rubbing her back soothingly, "don't worry. Hey, we've dealt with worse stuff than a deranged stalking student. Remember? Crazy shapeshifters, the devil, a mist with monsters inside, zombies, a serial killer… And he thinks he can scare you, after you've faced down the devil himself and won? And I didn't even mention _all_ the stuff we've dealt with since we got together."

To her relief, the little recollection of their previous adventures did what she had intended, and calmed Willow down enough at least to make sure she wouldn't burst into tears again; instead, she smiled weakly and nodded, making the black haired woman smile back at her before she bent down to kiss her tenderly, giving her the last small bit of comfort she needed to calm down fully again.

"You're right", the witch stated after the kiss, a new determination in her voice and eyes, "he's got another thing coming if he thinks he can frighten me out of my mind so easily. Let's go home, track him, and show him what the two of us are made of."

"That's the spirit", Pat smirked, "so come on, let's go home and find out who exactly our new friend is. Then, you can come along when I go to scare him and make him cry like a little girl."

"I'd like that", Willow darkly gave back, and anyone else might have felt uneasy about those words and the look on her face; thanks to her demonic nature though, Pat had no such qualms, her smirk merely widening as she nodded, then started walking with her partner again, the two of them making their way straight to their home, the redhead fully determined to track the number she had of the culprit and to finally find out who he was.

* * *

Once they had arrived at the apartment, Pat immediately moved into the kitchen to make some coffee while Willow, not wanting to waste any more time on being upset, booted up her laptop, impatiently drumming her fingers on the table as she waited for the machine to get done with the process and let her use it; and just as it finished and showed her the desktop, her partner returned from the kitchen, sitting down next to her after her question if she'd prefer tea for her nerves had been declined.

"Coffee is just fine", the redhead then added, almost automatically opening her e-mail programme, since this was the first thing she always did when she used her laptop, "I'll need to be at my best to hack… the providers…"

She trailed off as she saw that the e-mail client was receiving a rather large mail, several MB big, frowning as she asked herself what this might be – as far as she knew, no professor had promised to send any files which might have such a size, and she had made sure that all her friends and acquaintances stopped flooding her inbox with the various humorous mails which always seemed to circulate a long time ago.

Finally, after what seemed like much longer than it should take, the e-mail appeared in her inbox, and when she read the sender's name, her breath hitched in her throat; this was enough to make Pat lean closer and squint at the screen, frowning as she looked at the reason for this unexpected reaction, one look being enough to see what had caused it.

"salix_babylonica?" she read out loud, looking at her partner with a raised eyebrow, "that's from our new friend, then?"

"For sure", Willow gave back, exchanging a look with her lover, "_salix _ is the botanical name for willow tree, and with that _babylonica _added, that makes it a weeping willow…"

"How extraordinarily clever", the demon snarked, making the redhead smile weakly; then, she focused on the e-mail again, suddenly uncomfortable as she saw that the size of said mail had been caused by a bunch of attachments in .jpeg format.

"He sent a bunch of pictures", she said out loud what surely Pat had noticed by now, as well, the black haired woman not commenting on it though, "I'm not sure I want to see them…"

"Neither am I", her girlfriend sighed, "but maybe they reveal something about him… I can look at them if you want?"

"No, I'll do it", Willow let her know without a moment's hesitation, double-clicking the mail to open it so she could see more than just the sender and the empty subject line, "I might as well face what he wants to frighten me with now."

They both fell silent and leaned forward in perfect and almost comical unison to read the message; and moments later, the witch's heart was hammering up to her throat again while she felt Pat tense up next to her, the demon almost automatically grabbing her free hand and holding it as they both stared at the black words on white background, as if they might change if they just looked at them long enough.

_Freaked you out, didn't I? You should have remembered to lock the door when you went to have that shower. In community showers, you're never truly alone…_

"No", Willow brought out in a tiny, almost inaudible voice, "please tell me he didn't…"

Swallowing heavily next to her, Pat wanted to tell her that she had changed her mind, that she shouldn't open any of the pictures the guy had sent; before she could do so though, the witch had done just that, double-clicking the first attachment and opening it, an unarticulated noise of disbelief and shock coming from her when almost immediately, the screen was taken up by a photo of her in the shower, her whole posture and body language telling anyone who might look at it how distressed she was.

"That sick fuck", the black haired woman mumbled, her voice now barely above a whisper, as well, "if I get my hands on him…"

Not even reacting to her the slightest, Willow simply opened the next attachment, and the one after it; and they all showed the same, her naked in the shower, crying in one of them, looking close to tears in the other, the images blurring when tears filled her eyes yet again, but still she couldn't stop opening them, already moving the mouse to the next one.

"No, stop", she heard Pat next to her, but found herself unable to heed her partner's words, "don't… Sweetie, stop it. There's no need to look at them all. Stop!"

The last word was said rather harshly and accompanied by a grab the taller woman made for the mouse, successfully managing to snatch it out from underneath the witch's hand; for a few more seconds, she sat as if paralyzed, staring at the screen now, not moving a muscle – before she burst into tears, with such harsh sobs that it startled the woman beside her.

"He was there", was all Willow brought out while hurriedly, Pat got out of her brief stupor and moved to hug her, simultaneously snapping the laptop shut with one hand and hiding the pictures from view, "he was there all along, he must have followed me…"

"Hush", was all the demon could come up with as she pulled her trembling lover as close as she could and held her, caressing her hair and back in a helpless attempt to calm her down, swallowing heavily once more when she felt the redhead's tears hot and wet on her shirt, trying to figure out what she could say to make her calm down, knowing all too well that the phrases she had used so far, about how this was just what the creep wanted and how it was playing into his hands to break down this way, were the last thing Willow needed to hear now.

"It's okay", she thus said instead, even though it seemed just as lame as anything else she could come up with, but finding herself awfully helpless in this whole situation, "it'll be okay…"

"How?" Willow demanded to know between sobs, raising a tear-stained face to look at her, the terrified expression in her eyes breaking her lover's heart, "how can it be okay? He was _there_, Pat! I bet he was there when he sent that message, probably right behind me so he could keep sniffing me and see my reaction, and when I freaked and ran off he followed me and I _never even noticed! _How can this be okay?!"

"…I don't know", the taller woman feebly had to admit after a few moments of silence, torn between the need to vent her anger about this new low the stalker had reached and comforting her lover, "there has to be something we can do! Tracking him, as I said, he must slip up sooner or later, we can't just sit here while this… this asshole keeps obsessing about you!"

And finally, the anger took over, getting the better of her as she grabbed the nearest object, one of the countless ashtrays she had placed strategically all over their home and, with a snarl so loud that the neighbours probably heard it, threw it with all her might, the ashtray hitting the wall and shattering into a thousand pieces the blink of an eye later.

A second after the last shards had hit the carpet, she regretted her brief outburst, as it only had served to push Willow over the edge even more, the redhead actually flinching back from her on the couch, and even though it was just there for a moment, just long enough to let her notice, she saw the flash of fear in her lover's green eyes; hurriedly, she tried to suppress any rage which might still show on her face as she slowly and carefully moved closer to her again and took her into her arms once more, breathing deeply in an attempt to keep her temper under control.

"I'm sorry", she heard the witch whimper before she could say the exact same words, "I…"

"No", the demon interrupted her, not unkindly, but still firm, "don't say that, it's not you I'm mad at. Hell, how could I be? Don't ever apologize for any of this, it's not your fault. I'm the one who's sorry, I shouldn't have done that, it's not helping and it only upset you more."

"What if it is my fault?" the smaller woman asked in reply, in a tiny, helpless voice that made Pat's blood boil again, "what if I… I don't know, did something that made him think I'm interested in him? Or encouraged him?"

"No", she repeated, again as firm as she could without sounding harsh or uncaring, "don't you even dare think that. He's sick, a psycho, none of this is your fault in any way, shape or form. Okay?"

To her dismay, her reassurance wasn't accepted as fast as it had been earlier, when she had tried to calm her down on the way home from campus; but at least, the witch had gotten over her brief moment of fearing her, evidenced by the way she snuggled up to her again and buried her face in her shoulder once more.

"It'll be okay", she repeated, even though she knew it wasn't exactly helping, but still not knowing what else she could say, "we'll find him, and make him stop. He has gone way too far now, and he's had his fun long enough. It's time we end this."

At least, this time, she felt Willow nod against her shoulder, the smaller woman still trembling and shivering in her embrace though, sobbing quietly into her shirt; and since she now was out of words to say for good, she just held her, caressed her back and hair and made random soothing noises into her ear, in her mind already wrapping her hands around the stalker's throat and choking him until the light went out in his eyes for doing this to the woman she loved.


	9. Chapter 9

"Yeah, in the shower", Pat confirmed half an hour later, on the phone with Buffy now, "don't tell me, I know it's fucked up…"

While she talked, Willow was busy with deleting the e-mail, along with the pictures, as thoroughly as she could, not wanting to have a trace of it left on her laptop; she briefly glanced up at her lover when she heard her cuss, then focused on the screen again, by now having calmed down enough again to try hacking into the service provider's database, thanks to the aid of her partner's embrace and a few tender kisses.

"It's time that we get more proactive", she heard the demon say to her best friend, able to tell that she still was quite angry about the whole mess from the way she was pacing up and down in the living room, holding the phone with one hand and a lit-up cigarette with the other, "we've been sitting around long enough, waiting for him to come up with new ways to frighten her."

She briefly stopped walking as Buffy responded and frowned, clearly not liking what the blonde was saying, reaching up with her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose as she finally replied again.

"Yes, I know we have no idea who he is, or what he looks like", she grumbled, "but there has to be something we can do. Ask around at college if anyone noticed anything suspicious, Willow's well known there, right? Try to find out if anyone talks a lot about her, or mentions her more than normal. We'll go to the Magic Box and talk to Anya, he might know that she's a regular there and might have been there, just in case the tracking doesn't work."

Clearly, Buffy agreed to those ideas, since the frown vanished again and the taller woman seemed a bit more relaxed as she made vaguely agreeing noises; and half a minute later, she sat down next to her partner again, obviously having calmed down enough to not feel the need to pace around anymore.

"Alright, thanks", she finally said, "and yeah, we'll keep that in mind. Talk to you later. Bye."

"We'll keep what in mind?" Willow asked the moment her lover had put the phone down, not looking at her though, but focused on the screen of her laptop, her fingers moving over the keyboard with impressing speed as she worked to get into the database of Sunnydale's biggest service provider.

"That we won't let you out of our sight until we got him", Pat let her know, taking another drag of her cigarette, only to realize moments later that she had ruined the ashtray, grumbling to herself as she had to get up again to get another one, "I'll keep an eye on your in our free time and Buffy will take over campus. We're not taking any risks with this guy."

"You think he'll attack me sooner or later, right", the witch gave back, now looking up at her after all as she made her way back to the couch, new ashtray in hand, and sat down next to her again, a heavy, dismayed sigh coming from her before she nodded, knowing it was of no use to lie to her now.

"Yes", she then confirmed verbally as well, "seeing how fast he's escalating, from calling and texts to actually sneaking close enough so he can take pictures of you in the shower, it's only a matter of time until he will try something more… drastic."

"Maybe I should start taking the Staff to campus", Willow pondered out loud in reply, to the demon's relief not appearing all too upset over the possibility of the stalker attacking her in the not too distant future, "then I can beat him from here to next Sunday."

"That's actually a good idea", the taller woman nodded after considering this for a moment, "in its… normal state, it should fit in your bag, right? And then you can just pull it out and kick his ass the moment he shows his face."

"That's the plan", the redhead gave back with a weak smile, then focused on the laptop once again, prompting her partner to scoot closer to her on the couch so she could see what she was doing, almost automatically placing one hand on her back in a simple, but effective gesture of both comfort and protection.

"I'm almost there", the smaller woman let her know before she had the chance to ask, "that's the biggest provider we have here, and the one who uses the prefix his number has, so… Let's see if he got his stalker phone from them…"

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she started typing again, barely feeling that Pat was rubbing her back with slow, soothing moves; she held her breath she typed the stalker's number into the according field, then pushed Enter, the way her face fell moments later telling the demon that she hadn't found the information she had been looking for.

"Should have known he would be too smart for that", the witch mumbled to herself, shaking her head before she looked at her partner, dismay all over her face and in her voice as she went on. "It's a prepaid phone, not necessary to register it on anyone to use it… All he has to do is go to the next store and buy credits. Dammit…"

"Can you trace the phone, then?" Pat asked after a moment, not liking this new development, "pinpoint his location?"

"I can try", Willow sighed, giving her best to not let this setback discourage her, "but that'll only work if the phone's switched on… Wait…"

Quickly, before someone at the service provider might display more skill than the police and other officials in Sunnydale usually had and realize that someone had hacked into their database, she cut the connection, then opened up yet another programme; momentarily, Pat was tempted to ask her where exactly she had gotten that one, then decided against it, telling herself that she didn't need to know each and every detail about her girlfriend's exploits in the electronic world.

"Alright", the redhead mumbled to herself, distracting her from those ponderings, "let's see if he's smart enough to switch off his phone when he's not using it…"

Her fingers moved over the keyboard again, entering the phone number, then a few commands Pat had no idea about; and moments later, Willow held her breath again, her eyes lighting up half a minute later.

"Got him", she then said, proudly gesturing at the screen, "or, well, at least his phone, if he's not having it with him… He's still at campus…"

"Can you get a detailed location?" Pat wanted to know, leaning closer to the screen, "where exactly on campus?"

"Wait", the smaller woman mumbled in reply, frowning in concentration again as she started typing once more, "maybe if I…"

She fell silent as she focused fully on her work, by now typing so fast that the demon barely could follow her, her lack of knowledge about such programmes and how they worked not exactly helping; a minute later though, it became obvious that whatever she had done had been successful, since the image on the screen zoomed closer until it showed the phone's exact location on campus.

"Alright", Willow smirked, clearly pleased with her accomplishment, "let me just print this out, then we can go and look for him… Let's hope he won't move anywhere until we found him."

"You should get that tracking program thingy on your phone", the taller woman suggested in reply, "is that possible?"

"Technically, yes, but it would take a while to install it", Willow gave back, already rising from her seat, "I'll do that in case we don't find him now…"

"Fine with me", Pat shrugged, coming to her feet as well, "let's go then, and hope we'll be lucky for once and find him now so we can kick his ass."

"Remember, human", the witch smiled weakly, earning just another shrug in reply; clearly, this was no reason for her partner anymore to hold back, not after the man's latest creepy action, and even though she knew that she should know better, Willow couldn't really blame her, thus not saying anything else, but merely making her way to the printer and picking up the map she had printed there, nodding when Pat asked her if she was ready to go, hoping with all her heart that within the next hour, they'd be able to put an end to all of this.

* * *

Just like when she had picked her up from campus, Pat made getting there considerably quicker by flagging down the first taxi she saw; and with the offer of a generous tip, she made the driver take them there faster than he was supposed to, the car coming to a halt in front of the campus gate fourteen minutes later.

"Alright", Willow said after the cabbie had been given the tip he had been promised and they both had climbed out of the car, "let's go and see if he moved in the last fifteen minutes…"

Nodding, Pat grasped her hand in a silent gesture of support, prompting her to briefly, but gratefully look at her; then, she got out the map she had printed and started walking, the demon right beside her, glancing left and right to make sure no one was noticing any of their slightly suspicious behaviour as they moved to the building the map was pointing out to them, the campus' main building in which all the lecture halls were located.

"It's not taking us to his dorm room, which is too bad", Willow commented, briefly looking up from the map, her mind racing as she mentally overlaid the building with the printed image, quickly figuring out where they had to go.

"Second floor", she told her partner as they resumed walking and entered the building, "if I read this right, the phone was in a hallway when I made the trace, so he might be somewhere else now…"

"At least we know we can trace him now", the demon confidently gave back as they climbed a flight of stairs leading to the second floor, "that's something, right?"

"Yes", the witch confirmed with a slight smile, then consulted the map once more, pointing out that they had to take the next turn to the right to end up in the hallway where the phone had been when they had traced it; they did just that, and a minute later, her heart beat faster as she found herself looking at a row of lockers, suddenly just _knowing _that the phone would be in one of them.

"Can you tell which locker it is?" Pat asked next to her, having the same train of thought; nodding, the witch studied the map once more, making sure to keep the different scale in mind as she slowly walked from one locker to the next, then finally stopped in front of one of them, briefly dismayed about the fact that he hadn't been considerate enough to put a nametag on it.

"I'm almost sure it's in there", she told her partner, turning to look at her after glaring at the padlock, "too bad we don't have the combination and can take a look inside."

"Hmhm", the taller woman let out a vaguely agreeing noise, looking left and right to make sure that they were alone in the hallway – and then grabbed the padlock and, with a brief bulging of her muscles beneath her jacket, simply tore it off, prompting the redhead to let out a startled gasp next to her.

"Pat", she then scolded, shaking her head, "now he'll know that we looked!"

"Let him know", the demon gave back, unimpressed and uncaring, letting the ruined lock slide into her pocket, "maybe it'll make him uneasy for once. And he'll know that one of us is freakishly… strong…"

She trailed off as she opened the locker and got a first good look at the stuff inside; next to her, Willow gasped once more, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as all she could do was stare, barely able to believe her eyes.

Every available surface of the locker had been covered with pictures of her, some of them overlapping each other in an attempt to thoroughly hide the grey metal of the door and the walls; most of them had been taken at college, showing her alone in class, in the cafeteria, together with Buffy on others, and a few of them with her girlfriend by her side, in the Magic Box and at the Espresso Pump and even in front of the apartment building they lived in.

"Jesus", she finally brought out, shaking her head, "how long has this been going on before he called me for the first time…?"

"Not sure", Pat grumbled next to her, almost forcefully having to tear her gaze away from the photos so she could look at the other stuff the creep had stored in the locker, "but… take a look at this."

Even though she wasn't sure she really wanted to, Willow did just that, feeling as if a huge lump had formed in her throat and kept her from swallowing as she took in the various items which had been put in the locker; she recognized her handwriting at once on a bunch of crumpled sheets of paper she had thrown away after not needing them anymore, right next to an emptied paper cup from the Espresso Pump with her name on it, the towel she had used just hours ago stuffed into the locker behind those items, something glinting on top of it…

"Wait", she mumbled, reaching out and taking hold of the object, identifying it as one of the earrings she had lost quite some time ago, "that's mine, too… remember when I came home complaining I lost an earring? That was three weeks ago, give or take!"

"Just how long has this guy been following you around?" Pat demanded to know, glaring at the locker's contents as if they could answer her question, "holy shit!"

"I'm not even sure I want to know", Willow gave back, pocketing the earring and watching how her partner pulled out the towel, eager to find out if any other belongings of the witch had been wrapped up inside it, "this just reached a whole new level of creepy."

"Indeed", the black haired woman agreed, unwrapping the towel carefully so nothing hidden within the folds might fall out and break, "I'd really like to know…"

She trailed off and fell silent as she realized that the towel held no hidden objects, but instead was stained with a still slightly moist and sticky white liquid; frowning, she raised the towel slightly for a closer look, thus missing the pure disgust which showed on Willow's face moments later, faster on the uptake than her partner.

"What's that on the…" Pat started, then finally realized as well what it was, her good eye going almost comically wide – before she dropped the towel and actually took a step back from it, looking so grossed out that it might have been funny, had the circumstances been different.

"Oh gross", she brought out, shaking her hand as if that might clean it, then letting it flame up without even fully noticing what she was doing, "oh, ew. Gross. Oh fuck, I'm gonna cut off my hand. Like, now. Gross! For fuck's sake… You got some hand sanitizer?"

"Not with me", Willow gave back, torn between feeling grossed out as well and amused at her partner's reaction – after all, as a demon, she had seen and done things which surely were much more gruesome than someone jerking off into a towel, no matter how creepy said someone was.

"And put out the fire!" she then realized fully what her partner was doing, "before you set off the alarm and everyone comes running! Come on, I know where the next washroom is…"

"Fire cleanses", the taller woman found it necessary to point out, but did as she had been told, giving the towel a wide berth to make sure not even her shoes would touch it, "jeez, this is gross. What a sicko. Let me guess, you used that towel."

"Yes, just a few hours ago", Willow grimaced, fighting hard to keep the mental images the few stains on the towel were bringing to her mind at bay, "when I took the shower during which he… Well, you know."

Nodding, the demon growled in the back of her throat, the mere thought of this man peeking in on her girlfriend while she was taking a shower and even taking photos of her enough to make her angry all over again; moments later though, the noise died in her throat as she heard footsteps behind them, coming to a sudden halt, and she turned to look, her good eye narrowing as she spotted the tall, lanky silhouette of a man standing close to the opened locker, the fact that the window behind him and the bright sunlight streaming in through it keeping her from seeing his face.

"Hey", she snapped anyway, as she noticed the guy staring at the locker she had forced open minutes ago; he flinched visibly in response – before he turned and ran, the demon letting out yet another growl as she, without another word, took up the chase, thankful for her heightened stamina as she ran after him, hearing Willow call out her name in shock behind her, but not stopping to explain what was going on, figuring she'd realize on her own in a moment or two.

"Stop!" she snapped as she watched him round the corner, hurrying for the stairway, still unable to get a look at his face; going back to growling quite loudly by now, she kept running after him, turning the corner just in time to see the door leading to the emergency stairway fall close behind him, hearing Willow a few feet behind her as she rushed at the door and practically burst through it, only to stop dead in her tracks, mildly confused, when she couldn't spot him anywhere or hear his footsteps descending down the stairs, telling herself that surely, he hadn't been so far ahead that he already had reached the first floor and the door there which led back to the hallways.

Frowning, she took another step forward, and he gave her just enough time to register his heavy breathing behind her – and then he rushed up to her from her blind side and rammed into her, as hard as he could, a startled yelp coming from her as she lost her footing, seemingly hanging in the air for a few endless moments before she crashed down the stairs, landing in a crumpled heap at their bottom.

From the top of the stairwell, she heard Willow cry out in shock, the noise mixing with his footsteps as he ran past her; she still tried to make a grab for him, but missed, and moments later, yet another door fell close behind him and he was gone, a groan of both pain and dismay coming from her as she had to realize how close they had been to getting him.


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you alright?" Willow demanded to know as she came running down the stairs as fast as she dared, not wanting to share her partner's fate, while, at the bottom, said partner already was struggling to sit up, grunting in response to her question; finally reaching her, the witch went down on one knee next to her, not sure if she should try help her stand or if she actually had injured herself during her rather horrific looking fall.

"Did you get hurt?" she thus asked, her eyes flickering back and forth as she tried to figure out the answer on her own, "it surely looked painful when you fell down!"

"Should have known", Pat pressed out between grit teeth in reply, "that he'd hide behind the door and push me, coward that he is…"

"He didn't just push you, he tackled you", Willow corrected, glad when she couldn't spot any blood anywhere, but knowing that this didn't mean that no bones had been broken, "and now answer me, did you get hurt?"

"Just my pride", the demon grumbled in reply, already coming to her feet as if to prove her words, even though she momentarily felt a bit dizzy, "did you see his face?"

"No", Willow sighed, giving her another worried look, not sure if it had been a good idea for her to stand up already, "I only saw him from behind, while you were running after him, and when he threw you down the stairs. God, I can't believe he just did that, he didn't even hesitate…"

"I'm in his way", the black haired woman sighed in reply, thankful when her lover put one arm around her waist to steady her, now feeling countless bruises which surely would form in the next hour, thanks to her rather spectacular fall, "so of course he wouldn't hesitate."

She grimaced as she stepped forward and felt pain flash up in her side, then let the redhead support her even further by putting one arm across her shoulders and leaning on her rather heavily, earning another worried look as they stepped through the door the stalker had used to escape and into a hallway now filled with students, thanks to the fact that a class had ended minutes ago.

"Alright", Willow then mumbled, keeping her voice low so no one else would hear her next words and wonder if she had lost her marbles, "once we're somewhere safe, you'll demon out, just in case, and don't tell me now you didn't get hurt."

"Fiiiine", the taller woman gave back with a roll of her good eye, making the redhead smile slightly at her reaction, "just get me out of here before anyone you know spots us and wants to know what happened."

"Good point", the witch agreed, already leading her toward the exit, "and do you think we should tell somebody about that locker? The dean, perhaps?"

"Won't help", Pat sighed, giving her a dismayed look as they made their way to the doors leading outside, "he probably doubled back as fast as he could and is cleaning it out right now."

"Hey, guys!" a familiar voice called out to them before Willow could reply, both of them turning, slightly surprised to find Buffy hurrying towards them, her smile fading when she noticed the way Pat was leaning on her girlfriend, replaced by a look of concern as she caught up to them and asked them what had happened and what they were doing here.

"I tracked his cell phone", Willow let her know, "and the programme led us to his locker. Long story short, it's full of photos of me, notes I threw away and a coffee cup which suffered the same fate, then he appeared in the hallway, Pat chased him and he threw her down the stairs."

"He threw you down the stairs?" Buffy cried out, loud enough to make several people look at them curiously and prompting the demon to shoot her a dirty look, a silent signal to keep it down, "oh my God, are you hurt?"

"…little bit", she then had to admit at last, knowing that the sharp pain whenever she took in a breath was a clear signal for that, "but we're looking for some safe place right now where I can change that. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, come with me", Buffy replied at once, "it's not far. So did you get a good look at him?"

"Unfortunately not", Willow let her know, making sure to keep a firm grip on her lover as they followed the blonde outside and around the building's corner, to the far back of it, "at first he was standing with his back to the window, so the light kept us from seeing much, and then we only saw him from behind as he ran away."

"And he was smart enough to tackle me from my blind side when he decided I shouldn't go down the stairs the way normal people do", Pat added, stopping behind the building at a rather secluded spot where surely, nobody would walk by and see her, "so I didn't see much of him then, either. Only know that he's rather tall and lanky."

"Kinda like you", Buffy teased while at last, the taller woman stepped away from her partner so she could change into her furrier form of appearance without the danger of setting her on fire, thankfully remembering to take off her jacket first, knowing it wouldn't have survived the process; she grumbled at the blonde as she took another step back, then initiated the change, as always with a simple thought, grunting as her muscles bulged, turning her from her usual wiry build into a rather bulky creature, her hair lengthening and thickening until it became fur, another grunt coming from her as her teeth lengthened and sharpened, as always the last to finish transforming and the part which felt the most uncomfortable.

"I'm not tall and lanky", she protested as soon as she could talk again, putting out the flames which inevitably started flickering all over her body during her change, "I'm tall and wiry. That's a difference."

"Of course", Buffy teased, earning another low growl, giving her best to look innocent as she smiled up at the demon; then, a soft cracking noise reached her ears, and she frowned, her frown only deepening when she realized that said noise was coming from within her friend.

"What's making that sound?" she demanded to know, bending closer to hear better, "that doesn't sound good."

"It is, though", Pat told her, not letting it show if whatever was causing the noise was paining her, "that's the sound bones make when they heal at supernaturally high speed."

"So much about just your pride getting hurt", Willow scolded at once, shaking her head and giving her partner a strict look, and even though she looked quite dangerous in her current form, with the red and black fur and the claws and sharp teeth and all, she managed to look sheepish, prompting Buffy to let out a small giggle which quickly was hidden with a rather badly faked cough.

"Alright, I admit it", the demon sighed at last, hurriedly changing back after the healing had finished and putting her jacket back on, before anyone might happen to walk around the corner after all and see her, "few ribs got a bit… cracked. But I'm fine now!"

"You better be", Willow gave back, rolling her eyes – before she, to the black haired woman's relief, smiled and stepped closer to her again, now that she was done transforming, her smile widening when she immediately was pulled into a tender embrace.

"I had a chance to ask around a bit", Buffy told them, obviously having no sense for romantic moments, "but unfortunately, none of the few I talked to noticed anything weird from anyone. So either he's hiding it well, or I'm talking to the wrong people."

"Well, if you didn't talk to many yet, it might be the second option", the taller woman shrugged, insisting on a brief kiss before pulling back from the embrace, "keep it up if possible, Willow and I will go to the Magic Box and ask Anya if she noticed a tall and lanky guy acting weird. At least we have a bit of a description now…"

All at once, she smirked, making both Buffy and Willow wonder what the reason for her sudden mirth was; before any of them could ask though, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the padlock she had taken from his locker, a mischief glint in her good eye as she looked at the witch.

"And we got this", she added, "I imagine he touched it a thousand times. Personal enough to do a locator spell?"

"Could be", Willow smiled, feeling like praising her for her foresight, "we better try it after we talked to Anya."

Nodding her agreement, Pat asked Buffy to call them as soon as she found out anything; the Slayer reassured her that she would, then told them to take care before she hurried off, the couple leaving campus as well moments later and heading for the Magic Box, confident that, even if Anya wouldn't know anything, they'd find him sooner or later with the spell, and put an end to his behaviour once and for all.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey guys!" Anya greeted happily, and for a moment, Pat would have sworn that she had dollar signs in her eyes as she looked at the couple, "how nice of you to drop by! Do you want to buy something?"

"Actually, no", Willow was the one to answer, not surprised when immediately, Anya's smile vanished and a frown replaced it, "we just wanted to ask you something…"

"Alright, ask", the ex-demon gave back, a bit impatient, "but do it quickly, before a customer comes and I have to help them."

"Did you notice any strange guys around lately?" Pat took over, making the brunette look at her, "tall and lanky? A bit shy, perhaps? Or acting oddly and asking questions about Willow?"

"Well", Anya gave back, scratching the back of her head, "there were a few odd people around, but I suppose that's normal, seeing the stuff we sell… I don't remember anyone asking for you, Willow, but there was a tall and lanky guy here a few days ago. I think he bought a book."

"What kind of book?" Willow immediately asked, alarmed, not liking the thought of her stalker having access to magic now, dismayed when Anya shrugged in response.

"Not sure anymore", she then let her know, "it was nothing dangerous though. Nothing with real spells in it. Just one of those I keep for people who are interested in it, but shouldn't mess with it. Why? Are we looking for this guy? Is he the new big bad?"

"That would give him too much credit", Pat grumbled, "no, not a big bad. Just a deranged man who thinks it's fun to stalk my girlfriend. Hey Anya, can I use the bathroom for a moment?"

"Sure", Anya shrugged, and the black haired woman took off to the back of the store while Willow took over yet again at the questioning look she received from the brunette.

"He's apparently been doing it for quite some time", she explained, "stalking me, I mean, even though he only contacted me two days ago." Now that she said this out loud, it was almost ridiculous how little time had passed since the first call; before she could ponder this further though, Pat came back from the bathroom, the way she was rubbing her hands dry with a paper towel making it obvious to Willow what she had been doing there and causing her to remember the soiled towel they had found in the deranged student's locker.

"And he's quite depraved", the taller woman added, tossing the paper towel into the trashcan behind the counter, "so if he comes back, give us a call, alright? Right away. Do you have hand sanitizer?"

"Um, yes", Anya gave back, rummaging through her purse until she found a bottle of the stuff, "do I want to know why you need it?"

"No", Willow and Pat told her in perfect unison, with the redhead holding back a slight smirk as she watched how her partner squirted quite a generous portion of the clear, gel-like sanitizer on her palm and started rubbing her hands together, letting Anya simultaneously know that she'd keep the bottle, the brunette deciding after a moment to simply accept this and not inquire any further.

"So, in case a tall and lanky man comes in, I call you", she summarized instead, "and you've taken my hand sanitizer for reasons I don't want to know, and the tall and lanky man is stalking Willow. Got it. Why is he stalking you?"

"Not sure about that yet", Willow shrugged, "but don't call us because of every tall and lanky man you see now, okay? Just if he starts acting odd or starts asking you questions about me. He might do that…"

"Alright", Anya nodded, "call you I will. Now are you sure you don't want to buy anything?"

"Sorry, not today", Willow gave back, "but you know I'll come straight here the next time I need supplies!"

"You got everything for the locator spell?" Pat wanted to know, making her nod, to the ex-demon's obvious dismay; still she smiled and wished them a nice day, prompting them to wish her the same before they left the store together, no discussion needed to decide that they'd head right back home, the witch eager to do the locator spell and find out where the stalker was hiding out.

"Does it update?" Pat wanted to know as they walked side by side, holding hands once more, "the spell, I mean? Does the glowing little light move when he does?"

"It should, if I do it right", Willow let her know, once more astounded about her little her girlfriend knew about magic, despite her very nature, "if I mess it up, it won't work at all or it won't move."

"I'm sure you won't mess it up", the black haired woman replied at once, demonstrating the same confidence in her abilities as always, "you've done it before, right?"

"Yes", she confirmed, smiling when she felt Pat squeeze her hand gently, "but it might be that the lock is not enough. Not personal enough to make it work, I mean. Or, if he really bought a book about magic and Anya didn't just say that thing about how it wasn't the real deal to calm me down, that he blocks it."

"Oh please no", Pat groaned, rolling her good eye, "that's the last thing we need. A stalker with magical abilities. Nuh-uh."

"That would indeed make things more complicated", Willow agreed with a grimace, "but we are in Sunnydale, so who knows what he might come up with."

"Don't jinx it", Pat admonished, then amused her by getting out the hand sanitizer once more and letting go of her hand so she could go through the whole squirt-and-rub procedure again, "and, well, just in case it doesn't work, we should figure out how to handle the days until we caught him. I know that I can't just hang around at campus until we got him, but I don't like the thought of leaving you out of my sight."

"Buffy will be there", Willow reminded her of the other person with super strength in her life in response, "she'll keep an eye on me during campus time, and you can pick me up and walk me home. I hate that it's necessary, but I really don't want to be alone longer than absolutely necessary."

"Yup", the demon agreed, "and Buffy will have to go on patrol alone until we got him, there's no way in Hell I leave you alone at night with that sicko out there somewhere, after you."

"How far do you think he will go?" Willow dared to ask after pondering for a few moments if she really wanted to know, longing to hear her partner tell her now that surely, he wouldn't cross any more lines than those he had already, but knowing at the same time that it would be a lie; and since lying to her girlfriend was one of the things Pat didn't do, she shrugged, sounding slightly regretful when she replied.

"Honestly? I have no idea, but I doubt that sneaking into the shower after you and taking pictures is the lowest this guy can go", she said, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, "not to mention the fact that he pushed me down a flight of stairs with the same ease normal people open doors with. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he'd attack you next."

Only when the last word had left her mouth, she realized that perhaps, it hadn't been the best choice of words, evidenced by how Willow paled visibly, and quickly, she tried to make it better, almost dropping her cigarette as she hurried to move it to her other hand so she could grasp the witch's again.

"But that's why Buffy and me will protect you", she told her, mortified at her lack of tact and asking herself how she could have been so thoughtless, "so even if he's stupid enough to go near you, he'll have his ass handed to him."

"I know", the redhead gave back after another moment of silence, smiling slightly again, to her lover's great relief, "I'm lucky to have such… capable people in my life when it comes to handing people their asses."

"Yeah, you're just blessed", Pat gave back with a slight chuckle; and after a moment, the witch giggled as well, then nodded as she stopped walking and pulled her down for a kiss, trying her best to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her head which kept insisting that things would take another turn for the worse before they'd get better again.

* * *

During the next few days, things didn't change very much; Pat still made ample use of the hand sanitizer she had snatched from Anya, until the bottle had been emptied, and Willow tried the locator spell with the padlock several times, to no avail each time though, finally giving up after the sixth or seventh try, having to realize and to admit to herself that, even though her stalker had surely touched the thing a thousand times, it just hadn't been personal enough to make the spell work out.

At least though, the creep didn't take things any further than he had so far, calling her between fifteen and twenty times each night and sending her text messages and emails during the day, none of them as dreadful as the one about smelling her hair though had been; compared to that particular one, the ones following were mostly harmless, even though they did start to sound a tad more aggressive as the witch just kept ignoring them and refused to reply.

Apart from her stalker trying with varying success to freak her out again as bad as he already had once, Willow got quite the fright on another occasion, courtesy of her girlfriend this time, when she walked into the kitchen with the intention to get something to drink and found her sticking her hand into a pot of boiling water; thanks to her immunity to all things hot, she didn't get hurt, the skin not even reddening, but still the witch had cried out at the sight, demanding to know what she was doing, only to be told rather dryly that she was sterilizing her hand.

Just as it had been settled a few days ago, Willow never was alone longer than absolutely necessary, for bathroom breaks and for her morning hygiene; Pat took her to campus in the morning and picked her up after her last lecture, and in between, Buffy was there, glaring at anyone tall and lanky who even just looked into their direction, until none of the students who stood taller than 6 feet dared to look at the two anymore.

"Small change of plans", Pat told her regretfully on the morning of the sixth day after their first physical encounter with the stalker, as they were walking to college together, "I have to help out at the Magic Box today, Anya was really insistent, so… Think Buffy can take you home, or can you go home with her?"

"I'll ask her to walk me to the Magic Box", Willow suggested in reply, "after those good for nothing locator spells, I need a few new supplies anyway, and once you're done, we can just go home together."

"Why didn't I think of that?" the demon asked no one in particular, making her giggle slightly before shrugged; then, she slowed down as the campus gate appeared up ahead in the distance, briefly regretful as she knew that soon, her partner and she would have to part ways, but knowing that there was no other way – Pat had been at campus before, keeping an eye on her, but that had only been for a short time, and they both knew she would get into trouble sooner or later if she hung around each and every day without actually being a student.

"Alright, I'll meet you at the Magic Box then", the taller woman added as they finally reached the gate and stopped in front of it, "call me when Buffy and you are leaving from here, so I'll know I have to hurry up with the work, okay?"

"Sure", Willow agreed, then stood on the tips of her toes to kiss her briefly, but gently; afterwards, Pat told her to take care, as always had in the last few days when their ways had parted at the gate, and she nodded before she turned and made her way over the campus, already spotting Buffy standing close to the entrance of the lecture hall, waving enthusiastically at her as she saw her just in the same moment.

"Hey", the blonde greeted her best friend as soon as she was within earshot, "everything okay? Anything new?"

"The usual", Willow let her know, handing her the phone afterwards so she could read the last two messages, one from the previous evening and one from the early morning.

_I told you before, ignoring me won't make me go away, _the one from the evening read, being one of the slightly more aggressive ones she had received during the last few days; shaking her head, Buffy moved on to the next one, grimacing when she read it, taken aback by the rather vulgar content.

_I still got the towel, _he had written, half past seven in the morning, _should have taken it when you had the chance. It still smells like you, and I use it daily for the only purpose it has for me… If you know what I mean._

"Does he mean what I think he means?" Buffy asked, making the redhead nod, a hint of disgust in her voice when she replied, simultaneously taking the phone back and tucking it into her pocket.

"He jerked off into it", she then said, rather bluntly, causing the blonde to turn slightly green, "why do you think Pat developed such a liking for hand sanitizer the last few days? She touched it once before she noticed what he did."

"Gross", Buffy mumbled, shuddering at the mere thought, "that's… really twisted. Are you sure you still don't want to report this to at least the dean of students? By now, you surely have collected enough messages to prove he's after you…"

"Yes, but I doubt they can help", Willow sighed, "what is the dean supposed to do if I don't know who he is?"

"Good point", Buffy had to admit, "and I doubt he'll reveal himself anytime soon…"

"Pat thinks he will", the witch let her know, making her look at her in surprise, "his messages have been getting more aggressive because I keep ignoring them, and she thinks he'll take it to the next level soon, to make sure he keeps holding my attention. Either by doing some new depraved thing, or by finally approaching me directly."

"Well, if he does the latter, either Pat or me will be around to protect you", Buffy smiled, "and then we'll at least know what he looks like. Might be easier to find out then who he is, I just wish all my asking around at campus would have brought up something…"

"He's too smart for that", the redhead gave back, not liking to admit it, but knowing it was true, "same reason why he didn't go to the Magic Box and ask Anya about me there. He's avoiding anything that may cause suspicion as much as possible."

"Why can't he be dumb", Buffy grumbled in reply, making her best friend giggle, "then this would have been resolved long ago."

"Because things are never easy in Sunnydale", Willow wisely gave back, prompting the Slayer to roll her eyes – before they both giggled heartily as they entered the lecture hall together, unaware of the fact that several pictures had been taken of them yet again, to be studied by the culprit at his leisure as soon as he would find the time to do so again.


	12. Chapter 12

"I swear, one of these days I'll drop one of those boxes on Anya's foot", Pat told her partner as they stood in the elevator together, several hours later; the time at campus had passed uneventfully, and so had the walk with Buffy to the Magic Box, the demon just getting done there as Willow and her best friend arrived, allowing the couple to leave together after a few minutes of polite chit-chat with the ex-demon and the Slayer.

"You know she means no harm", the redhead gave back, for the first time in days feeling quite relaxed again – after all, no more messages had been sent to her after that last one from half past seven, and the feeling of being watched she'd had so often during the past week hadn't come up again, either, to her great relief.

"That's just how she is", she went on as they stepped out of the elevator side by side, "she can't help… herself…"

In the same instant she saw that the door of their apartment wasn't closed fully, but slightly ajar, just enough to let anyone notice at second glance, she felt Pat tense up next to her; and then, the demon told her in a hushed voice to stay where she was and hurried ahead, fists already clenched as she pushed the door open and stepped inside, all her senses on high alert as she tried to figure out if the intruder was still there.

Slowly, not wanting anyone to get the jump on her, the black haired woman made her way past the small anteroom and entered the living room, looking left and right there before she moved on to the kitchen; at first glance, nothing seemed to be out of order, but she could feel that, even though they might be gone now, someone had been in their home while they both had been gone, doing God knows what to their stuff.

"Already have an idea who it might have been", she muttered, returning to the living room and moving on to the bedroom; a quick check of that and the bathroom made sure that no one was hiding anywhere, but she still was tense when she returned to the hallway outside and told Willow that it was safe to come inside.

"Whoever it was, they're gone", she added, just having to take one look at the witch's face to know that she thought the same about who had done this, her expression one of notable distress as she slowly stepped into the apartment and looked around, an audible tremble in her voice when she spoke up. "It was him, wasn't it… He somehow knew that we both wouldn't be home today and broke in…"

"Afraid so", the taller woman had to admit, looking rather dismayed as well, "but from what I could tell at first glance, he didn't take anything…"

"Let's have a closer look, then", Willow bravely replied, still making sure to keep close to her lover though as they moved to the living room together; she had to admit that her partner was right, and that at the first glance, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, the subtle changes only being visible the moment she took a second, closer look.

The first thing she noticed was that two of her spellbooks had obviously been taken out of the shelf and then put back in the wrong order, a change not many other people would have noticed; she took a moment to point it out to her partner, not sure where to go next, finally deciding on the kitchen and making her way there.

"You think he peered in our fridge?" Pat asked, frowning, as she watched the redhead make a beeline for said object; shrugging, Willow briefly glanced at her, pointing out that it was better to be safe than sorry and that she wanted to make sure none of their food had been tampered with before she opened the fridge, her breath getting caught in her throat moments later.

The previous evening, she'd made dinner, a rather simple one, consisting of fried beef and mashed potatoes, and had put the leftovers in the fridge; now, the Tupperware box in which she had put the potatoes stood in the middle of the second shelf instead of at the far back where she had originally put it, a bright yellow Post-It note stuck to the lid, her heart speeding up in her chest as she pulled it off with trembling fingers.

_How kind of you to cook for your girlfriend, _it read, briefly making her wonder how he had known that she had made the food, then shrugging it off, telling herself it didn't really matter, _but I would have added a bit more salt._

"He tried it", she brought out, the tremble in her voice increasing, "he actually went in here and tried the food I made! And he somehow knows I made it!"

"Sick fuck", was all Pat could come up with behind her, still earning a nod in response – before Willow snatched the Tupperware bowl out of the fridge and, holding it at arm's length as if she was afraid of having it too close to her, carried it the short distance to the trashcan, simply dropping it in, not even wanting the bowl itself anywhere in her household anymore after she knew that this man had touched it.

"Think he touched anything else?" the demon wanted to know while she took the note from her partner and pocketed it, figuring that it might come in handy to have some evidence of his presence in their apartment; helplessly, all Willow could do was shrug as she took another look at the fridge, not sure if anything else had been moved or touched, no matter how long she studied the contents, finally giving up and closing the fridge again, telling herself there was no way to find out, since he hadn't left any more notes in there.

"Bathroom next", she told her partner tonelessly, earning a worried look in reply – so far, she didn't look as if she would freak out any time soon, but the sound of her voice and how pale her face had gone were more than clear indicators that it wouldn't take long anymore, depending on what else she might find during her search of their home.

"Maybe I should take a look", Pat thus suggested, moving closer to her and placing one hand on her back, "honestly, Sweetie, you look as if you might faint any moment."

"No, I'll go with you", the witch insisted in response, not really surprising her, "now that I know that he's been in here, I might as well look at what he did…"

"Not if it'll make you faint", the taller woman argued back, even though she already knew that it was pointless; and a moment later, the redhead underlined that knowledge by simply telling her that she wouldn't, then moved on without another word, leaving the kitchen and heading for the bathroom, her lover close behind her.

This time, they didn't need long to figure out what he had done there; the lid of the laundry basket was open, something Pat had missed during her brief first check of their home, and one glance at the content told Willow that he had gone through the dirty laundry, her mouth suddenly dry as she thought of this man touching all her clothes, maybe even sniffing them, pressing them against his nose and mouth…

"…I'll wash all these clothes twice", she brought out, her hand coming up to cover her mouth as another, horrifying reason for why he had gone through their dirty laundry hit her, her face paling even further as she looked at her partner, prompting her to move closer again in fear that she might faint any moment after all.

"He took something", the redhead added, briefly closing her eyes when Pat pulled her into a tender embrace, rubbing her back soothingly, "I know he did… he wouldn't just be content with looking at it, he must have taken something, too."

"Probably", the taller woman sighed, knowing that it'd be useless to lie to her about this and that it only would make things worse, "it'd fit his behaviour."

Taking in a deep breath, Willow made herself nod, fighting down the urge to empty the laundry basket on the floor and start going through the clothing in an attempt to find out what he had taken; she knew that, even though she did have quite the brilliant mind, she wouldn't be able to figure out what he had snatched, not without cross-matching the contents of the laundry basket with her wardrobe, and going down this road only would lead to madness, caused by this creep and his behaviour.

"Bedroom", she mumbled into her partner's shirt after taking in a few deep breaths to calm herself; and even though she still didn't think this was a good idea, the taller woman nodded, making sure to keep one arm around her waist as they left the bathroom together and stepped into the bedroom.

The first check Willow made there was on her wardrobe, not even surprised when she noticed that a pair of shoes was missing from there; briefly, she wondered why he hadn't taken any from the anteroom, one of the three pairs she currently was using, then shrugged it off yet again, taking a close look at her clothing, feeling moderate relief when she couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't think he tampered with my clothes", she told her partner, turning away from the wardrobe to look at her, even managing a small smile when she saw her standing next to the weapon chest she kept at her side of the bed, looking at the contents with a critical eye.

"Didn't take any of my weapons, either", the demon let her know after a moment, turning to face her, "I wonder if he actually looked inside and what he thought when he saw that collection."

"I doubt it'll scare him off", Willow mumbled, her gaze wandering to the bed, her mind starting to race as she tried to remember if she had left the blanket the way it was now, slightly creased and not as even as it usually was after she had made the bed, "he probably thinks they're collector items, if he even looked…"

Without waiting for a reply, she moved over to the bed with two fast steps, suddenly just knowing that he had done something to it; she grabbed the blanket and turned it back, and the blink of an eye later, her stomach turned while she heard Pat swear under her breath on the other side of the bed, having spotted what he had done the same second she had, her good eye filled with a brightly red glow as she stared at the dried and crusty white stains on the linen sheet.

Moments later, her anger at the creep evaporated though as she heard Willow let out a strangled noise, a mixture of disgust and disbelief – and then the redhead was running, managing to get back to the bathroom and fall down to her knees in front of the toilet just in time, barely even registering that Pat had followed her and now was holding back her hair as she threw up, shivering all over, hot tears streaming down her face, once more leaving her unsure if they had been caused by the vomiting or by the things this man had done to their home.

"There, there", she heard the demon mumble, still holding her hair out of her face while she started rubbing her back with the other, clearly at a loss for words once more; she heaved dryly as her stomach had been emptied quite thoroughly, then slumped back into her lover's arms, breathing heavily in a vain attempt to hold back her tears.

"I can't do this anymore", she finally brought out, in a tiny and trembling voice, the frightened and helpless sound breaking the taller woman's heart, "he's been in here, and you saw what he did to our bed… There has to be a way to end this… I thought I could handle it, the constant messages and calls, but I can't do this anymore…"

"I know", Pat started, still rubbing her back soothingly, "but—"

"No!" Willow interrupted her, so harshly that she was taken aback, a hint of fury in her eyes when she looked up at her, "no, you don't know! You don't know what it's like, I feel like a prisoner, constantly needing to have someone around because this psycho is still somewhere out there, after me, and all the time, I just wait for my phone to vibrate because he's sending messages or calling again… Every time I open my emails, I'm scared of what I might find, and every time someone I don't know calls me by name, I wonder if they're the stalker! And now he's been in our home and…"

Her voice broke as a harsh sob shook her, her partner once more at a loss for words after this unexpected rant, not even sure if her touch was welcome, but not pulling back from the embrace nonetheless, still holding her, her mind racing as she tried to find the right words, the magical phrases which would make all of this better.

"And now I'm yelling at you", the redhead almost whimpered before she could come up with anything, tears streaming down her face, "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be", Pat reassured her at once, glad that at least now, she knew what she could say to make her feel better, "you can yell at me as much as you want as long as it makes you feel better. And you're right, I don't know what it's like for you, I can't know because I never had to go through it, but I'll do anything I can to make this easier for you…"

In response, Willow just clung to her, prompting her to tighten her embrace around her; and for a while, they remained like that on the cold bathroom floor, the demon's mind running wild as she tried to come up with the perfect way to end this while the witch just tried to cope with what had happened, unable to get the image of a tall and lanky, shadowy figure in their home and in their bed out of her mind.


	13. Chapter 13

"There", Pat grumbled half an hour later, stuffing the soiled bed sheet into the dumpster in the apartment building's small courtyard, along with the covers which had been on the blankets and pillows, "and now we better go back upstairs before I do change my mind and burn all of this after all."

"I would let you, if I wasn't worried someone might call the firemen then", Willow sighed, emptying the contents of their trashcan on top of the bundle her partner just had stuffed into the dumpster, getting rid of the Tupperware bowl he had touched as well, "and that's the last thing we need now."

Nodding her agreement, the taller woman gave her another concerned look; she had stopped crying a while ago, but her eyes were still red and puffy, and her hands were trembling visibly, the way she wrapped her arms around herself after Pat had taken the emptied trashcan from her yet another indicator for how much all of this was burdening her.

"Come on", the demon said, in the kindest voice she could manage, moving closer to her and putting one arm around her shoulders, "let's get you back upstairs… I'll make you some tea if you like, then you can sit down and rest, I'll take care of the bed and everything…"

"We should call Buffy", Willow mumbled in reply, letting herself be guided to the door leading to the building, "tell her what happened…"

"I'll do that, too", Pat gave back at once, not willing to let her do anything else than just sit down and get some rest, "and she'll tell the rest of the gang, just so they'll be on their guard. Who knows what he might come up with next…"

"I don't think he'll go after any of them", the witch sighed as they stepped into the elevator together, staying close to her partner, in dire need of feeling her comforting and protective presence near herself, "he's only interested in me. He made that perfectly clear…"

"Better to be safe than sorry though", the demon shrugged, "and we'll need Xander to come over anyway, and repair the door. Asshole broke it open, apparently, he's not very good at picking locks."

"Just like you", Willow gave back, even managing a small smile, "just remember how you opened his locker."

"Good point", Pat had to admit, relieved when her partner's smile widened slightly in reply; she had a few more moments to reach up and caress her cheek tenderly, silently reassuring her that it'd be alright, then the elevator came to a stop at the second floor and the doors opened, both of them stepping outside, prompting Willow to remember how much safer and secure in her own home she had felt when she had done the same not even an hour ago, seconds before she had noticed that their apartment had been broken into.

All at once, her feet didn't seem to receive commands from her brain anymore, refusing to take her another step closer to the apartment door; dimly, she heard the black haired woman say her name next to her, a hint of alarm in her voice, but found herself unable to react to it, suddenly finding it hard to breathe, as if there wasn't enough air in the hallway – or as if someone had wrapped an iron band around her chest and now tightened it, fine pearls of sweat forming on her brow while her face paled rapidly.

"Willow", Pat tried once more to gain her attention, at first grasping her hand, then moving to stand in front of her when that brought no success, "look at me, come on, talk to me. What's happening?"

"…can't breathe", the redhead wheezed in reply, the world now at first blurring, then beginning to spin around her, her legs suddenly feeling as if they were made not of flesh and muscle, but of jelly; she had a moment to register this, with the small part of her mind which still functioned rationally, then her knees buckled and she was falling, ending up in her lover's arms once more as the taller woman reacted surprisingly fast and caught her before she could hit the ground.

_Panic attack, _the black haired woman realized at last, to her own dismay having to admit that she wasn't really surprised – when she had been hired decades ago to find and eliminate a stalker, the woman she had been working for then had suffered a similar fate, and some part of her had been expecting the same to happen to Willow sooner or later, one of the prices she had to pay for the constant strain the whole situation put on her mental health.

"Listen to me", she said after a moment, pulling her closer and positioning her so that her head was resting on her shoulder, making it easy for her to talk into her ear in a low murmur, keeping any of the other tenants from hearing her, not wanting any of them to come outside and ask what was going on.

"Focus on my voice", she went on, "come on, breathe slowly, deeply… There's enough air here and nothing's wrong with your airways, you can do this, you can get through this…"

She kept mumbling such reassuring words to her, holding her close and tenderly caressing her hair as she did so; and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Willow found that breathing came a bit easier to her, her racing heart slowing down to a healthier pace.

"That's it, way to go", Pat encouraged her, having picked up on the subtle changes and improvement, "slow and deep breaths, you'll be fine again in a minute, just keep breathing…"

Briefly closing her eyes, as the world was still spinning around her, the redhead did what her partner had told her, giving her best to breathe slowly and deeply, concentrating with all her might on the taller woman's low and slightly hoarse voice as she kept talking to her, until finally, her heartbeat slowed down to its normal speed and she could get air into her lungs easily again, the world finally stopping to spin, as well.

"Good", the demon complimented her, still caressing her hair, "feeling better?"

"Yes", the witch mumbled, slowly daring to sit up, then coming to her feet with the demon's help, "thank you… I'm not even sure what happened…"

"You had a panic attack", Pat explained as an answer, keeping one arm around her just in case, "another thing we can thank our creepy friend for… And I know you still don't want to go back inside, after what he… did there, but you can't give in to that."

"I know", Willow gave back, running a still shaky hand through her hair, feeling a bit nauseous again at the thought of going back into the apartment, but knowing that her partner was right, "if I let him drive me out of my own home, he really wins…"

"Exactly", the demon agreed at once, giving her a reassuring smile, "and you know you're stronger than that… Come on, you can do this…"

Nodding bravely, the witch started moving towards the apartment door with her again, her fingers curling around her shirt as they stepped through; for a moment, she almost expected something dreadful to happen, letting out the breath she had been holding when nothing at all occurred though, telling herself that there was no reason to be afraid and that, even if he had been there, he was gone now, and that it was still their home, the place where they had spent so many relaxing and wonderful hours.

"Alright", she told her partner after a few more moments, when she could be more or less sure she wouldn't panic again, "I'm alright… Could you take care of the bed? I'll call Buffy in the meantime…"

For a moment, the demon looked as if she wanted to protest, then decided otherwise – if she'd insist on her just sitting there and doing nothing, her thoughts might start spiralling out of control and lead her to yet another panic attack, the black haired woman thus figured that it'd be the best to agree so her lover would have something to keep her mind occupied.

"Okay", she nodded, "could you call Xander, too? About the door?"

"Of course", Willow gave back, smiling weakly; returning the smile, the taller woman reached out to grasp her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, then bent down and kissed her tenderly, for a few moments managing to make her forget about the stalker and the horrid things he had done.

* * *

After Buffy and Xander had been called and informed about the newest development of the situation, and Xander had promised to come by right after work and fix the door, Willow let her partner know that she'd take a shower, feeling quite smelly and gross after throwing up and sweating profusely thanks to the panic attack; on any other day, Pat would have offered to join her, with a lusty glint in her good eye, but this time, she just nodded, knowing that getting intimate was the last thing on her girlfriend's mind right now.

"Alright", she just said instead, "and while you do that, I'll make some sandwiches, we should eat something, even though I'm not really hungry."

"Neither am I", Willow sighed, then made herself smile slightly at the black haired woman; and after the smile had been returned, and another quick kiss had been shared, she made her way to the bathroom, automatically glancing at the laundry basket as she passed it, forcing the mental image of her stalker digging through her used clothes out of her mind as she undressed, telling herself that it was of no use to keep dwelling on what he might have done and what he might have taken.

Quickly, she stepped into the shower, momentarily eying her shampoo and shower gel warily, asking herself if he had done anything to it, if he had sniffed it the way he had sniffed her hair; then, she shook her head as if to clear it and switched on the water, fiddling with the regulators for warm and cold for a while until the water had a pleasant temperature.

Realizing that usually, her partner would have offered to join her during a shower in the late afternoon, or that she would have asked her to do just that, so they could do much more than just getting clean; thanks to the excitement of the day though, anything more than kissing and a bit of cuddling was the last thing she felt like doing, a small sigh escaping her as she asked herself how long this might last – and how long her lover would put up with it, well aware of the fact that her appetites were higher than those of regular humans.

_Don't be silly, _she then scolded herself while she took hold of the shower gel, _she's been so supportive through all of this, and she will keep being like that until this has been resolved, you know that._

Washing herself down, she got rid of the distinctive sweaty odour which had been clinging to her ever since she'd throw up in the bathroom; eager to get done and join her partner again, she washed her hair afterwards, again giving her best not to think about the tall and lanky figure of her stalker smelling her shampoo, perhaps even squirting some on his hand so he could get a good whiff of it.

_At least I had the Staff with me, _she thought to herself as she washed out the shampoo, _I don't even want to imagine him putting his hands on that. Not that it might react to him, he's not really having what I'd call a pure heart, but… _

Her train of thought got interrupted abruptly when she switched off the water, pulled the curtain aside with the intention to grab the towel she'd readied and her gaze fell on the mirror; her breath got caught in her throat and her eyes widened, and when she tried to call out to her partner, the only sound she managed was a thin wheezing noise.

_Get a hold of yourself, _she told herself, taking in a few deep breaths, unable to look away from the mirror though, _that's just another bit of his depraved act. A bit of wiping and it'll be gone._

"Pat!" she finally managed to call out, hoping her partner had heard her in the kitchen through the closed bathroom door and the rooms in between; half a minute later, she knew that she had as the door opened and her lover poked her head inside, looking as if she wanted to say or ask something, but then getting distracted by the fact that the witch was standing there completely naked and still dripping wet.

"Okay", Willow started at the expression on the black haired woman's face, smiling slightly again now, "it's flattering that naked me still manages to make you speechless, but… Look at that."

With those words, she gestured at the mirror, her smile fading again when she looked at it herself; and even though it cost her quite a bit of willpower, Pat did the same after a moment, all kinky thoughts she might have entertained vanishing the second her gaze fell on it. Thanks to the steam the hot water from the shower had created, the mirror had fogged over, revealing a message the creep had left which had been hidden from the couple's eyes before; it was just a simple, single word, but enough to put both the witch and the demon on edge, seeming more threatening than anything else the stalker had done so far.

_Soon._


	14. Chapter 14

"Soon, soon what?" Pat demanded to know, now just briefly glancing at her partner as she got out of the shower at last and wrapped herself up in a towel, all kinky thoughts clearly blown from her mind, "I really don't like this."

"Neither do I", Willow gave back, giving the mirror a dismayed look, "do you have your phone with you? Maybe we should take a picture before it vanishes."

"Yeah, good point", the demon grumbled, already digging through her pockets for her phone, "and just so you know, now I'm even more reluctant to leave you alone at campus during the day. Assuming this means he'll approach you soon, which I somehow think it does."

"You're not the only one", the redhead agreed once more, rubbing herself dry as she spoke, while the taller woman hurriedly took a few snapshots of the writing on the mirror, before it could disappear as the mirror was slowly clearing again, "but you know you can't hang around at campus all day long, someone might get suspicious and start asking questions."

"I know", Pat sighed, putting the phone back into her pocket, almost absent-mindedly handing the smaller woman her robe when she put the towel aside and making her smile, "you better tell Buffy tomorrow to be on high alert. Just in case."

"I think she already is", the witch reassured her, putting on the robe and reaching for a smaller towel to dry her hair, "but I'll tell her, as you like to say, it's better to be safe than sorry. I wonder what he'll do…"

"Well, if he's anything like the guy who was after my client, he'll try to talk to you at first", Pat gave back, watching how the word on the mirror slowly faded away before she turned to look at her girlfriend again, momentarily regretting the fact that she was dressed now, "and if that doesn't work, he might get… angry. Violent. So make sure Buffy's there, alright?"

"You're really worried", Willow had to realize, giving her a surprised look, "that he'll do something to me, right there, on campus? How dangerous to you think he is?"

"Well, let's recap", the black haired woman shrugged in reply, leaving the bathroom together with her partner so they could sit on the couch, which was more comfortable for that kind of conversation, "he started by following you around for God knew how long, taking pictures and stuff you threw away, then contacted you via Buffy's phone for the first time, started sending you messages with varying levels of aggression in them, and finally, after he threw me down the stairs, he broke into our home, using brute force. So, yeah, I think he's quite dangerous, and I really don't like the thought of him anywhere near you."

"Jeez", the witch mumbled, nervously running one hand through her still wet hair, "okay, you make a good point, but… That's unsettling. Now I feel like staying at home tomorrow."

"Which is not an option", Pat told her at once, grasping her hand and holding it tenderly, "as you know very well."

Slightly dismayed, the redhead just nodded in reply, making her lover squeeze her hand gently; for a few moments, they just looked at each other in silence, then Willow moved on the couch to snuggle up to her, managing a slight smile when immediately, Pat wrapped both arms around her.

"On a positive note", the witch started speaking again after she just enjoyed being held for a few minutes, "if he really does approach me soon, then we'll at least know what he looks like. And then you can go and kick his ass, you must be itching to beat something up by now anyway, it's been over a week since we did that patrol together…"

"I am", Pat admitted, moving one hand to scratch the back of her head sheepishly, "so you might actually have to hold me back in case I get my hands on him. I know you've never seen it before, but… It's not an unrealistic thought that I might kinda… lose control."

"I'll give my best", Willow promised, craning her neck so she could look her partner in the face, "and thank you… You've been so great during this whole ordeal, I don't know what I would have done without you…"

"Part of the girlfriend package", Pat just smirked, then took advantage of the witch's new position to kiss her, the kiss this time deepening; somehow, the redhead managed to move again without having to pull back, straddling her partner, one of her hands coming up to entangle in her long black hair while the other, to the demon's evident surprise, started tugging at her shirt, pulling it out of her pants.

"Willow", she managed after pulling back from the kiss after all, giving her a concerned look, "not that I don't want to, you know I always do, but… Are you sure you want to do this right now?"

"Yes", the witch gave back without hesitation, a hint of lust in her voice and in her gaze; she was a bit surprised herself that she suddenly felt this way, from one moment to the other, considering that she'd had a panic attack out in the hallway not even an hour ago, but on the other hand, she was determined to make use of that feeling. Part of her knew that it was a natural response, remembering what she had learned in psychology class about how people often felt the need for intimacy after traumatic experiences, to prove to themselves that they were still alive and well.

Before the black haired woman could question her again, she kissed her deeply once more, finally succeeding in pulling her shirt out and immediately using that to her advantage, running one hand up her back, holding back a satisfied smirk when she felt her shudder at her gentle touch.

Clearly, all doubts were gone from Pat's mind as well now, a low growl coming from her as she tightened her embrace around her for a moment, then had a better idea for how to use her hands and moved one of them to the front of her robe, then inside; and the moment she touched her skin to skin, Willow's breath quickened, her arousal suddenly so big that nothing else in the world seemed to matter anymore.

"Bedroom?" the demon managed to pant out between kisses, her shirt by now halfway unbuttoned and the witch working on the rest of the buttons rather enthusiastically, shaking her head in response, the thought of wasting precious time by getting up and moving to the bedroom not appealing to her in the slightest.

"Couch is fine", she clarified, and moments later, they were kissing passionately again, it didn't take long afterwards until the robe hit the floor, followed by the taller woman's shirt, all thoughts of the stalker gone from their minds as all they focused on was each other and the deep emotions they shared.


	15. Chapter 15

In the next morning, as Willow met up with Buffy at campus, the blonde looked rather concerned when she first spotted her friend, then realized that, despite what had happened the previous day, the redhead appeared surprisingly relaxed, smiling and waving at her as saw her, then jogging over to her, looking as if she wanted to bounce on the spot when she greeted her with an enthusiastic "Hi, Buffy!".

"You're in a good mood", she observed, not fully sure what to think of this – when she had heard about the newest development, and how shocked Willow had been by the things the stalker had done in their home, she had expected the witch to be in a fitting mood when she'd arrive at campus, maybe depressed or even angry, but surely not so overly happy.

"Yes", the redhead confirmed, now actually bouncing on the spot a bit, "but I'm not one to kiss and tell, so you won't find out why."

"Thanks to that wording, I already know why", Buffy gave back, giggling and shaking her head, "but good to know that Pat still has the… skill to cheer you up."

"Uh-huh", Willow nodded, blushing slightly at her unintentional reveal of the previous afternoon's activities, but still smiling; the blonde grinned back at her, then the two started walking side by side, into the lecture hall, for once not even looking around for any tall and lanky men who might be staring at the redhead.

"Did Xander fix your door yesterday?" Buffy wanted to know after just walking with her best friend in silence for a while, unpleasant images of the young man walking in on the couple right in the middle of their intimacy dancing through her mind; next to her, Willow surprised her by giggling, then nodded, a hint of mischief in her eyes when she replied.

"Yeah, he came by after work, as he said", she let the blonde know, "we'd… finished by then, but apparently, it was quite obvious what we'd been doing, because he took one look at us and flushed, a rather lovely shade of crimson."

"Poor Xander", the Slayer giggled, picturing the reddened face of their friend and only laughing harder at the mental image, "one would think after years of dating Anya, he'd be more than used to… such situations."

"Indeed", Willow agreed, not giggling anymore, but still grinning from ear to ear; for a second, she wondered if he was there now as she entered the lecture hall and they found seats next to each other, if he was there and watching her and asking himself what she was so happy about, then she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself that she felt too good to waste time with pondering such things.

"Pat's gonna pick you up again today?" Buffy asked after they both had gotten out their books and notepads, making her nod; before she could elaborate though, the professor came striding into the lecture hall and, seconds after taking his place at the podium, started talking without even bothering to give the assembled students more than a simple nod as a greeting, forcing them all to start taking nods fairly quickly.

At least though, his teaching methods made sure that time passed fast, and to the happiness of both Buffy and Willow, the same could be said for the classes which followed, something which was rare for a Friday afternoon; the Slayer's happiness was diminished though when the professor of the last lecture asked her in rather serious tones to stay behind, the blonde not sure what he wanted from her and not liking the thought of leaving Willow alone.

"I'll be fine", the witch told her in hushed tone at noticing the look she shot her, "I'll just wait right outside."

"Okay", Buffy agreed after a moment, hoping that this wouldn't end badly; Willow gave her a reassuring smile, still feeling too good after the previous afternoon to worry much as she stepped outside in the hallway and leaned against the wall, watching the students hurrying to and fro, all of them eager to get out of the building and start their weekend.

As she stood there, looking at the other students, she found herself thinking back to the locker Pat had opened rather violently a week ago; and suddenly, she felt like slapping herself as she realized that they could have gotten his name and maybe his address right then and there, the fact that each locker was assigned to a particular student, the records kept in the office of the dean of students.

Glancing at the lecture hall door, Willow wondered if she should wait until Buffy had gotten done in there, then decided against it, telling herself that there were people all over campus and that she wouldn't be truly alone; and with the proof she had in form of texts and call protocols on her phone, the dean of students shouldn't give her any trouble, but simply hand over the information she wanted.

_The whole thing shouldn't take longer than a few minutes, _she told herself, already moving away from the lecture hall, _you'll be back here and have his name and maybe even dorm room before Buffy even knows that you were gone._

Glad that for once, she could do something proactive, instead of just waiting for him to come to her, Willow hurried down the hallway, in the opposite direction of anyone else she encountered; a few of the students gave her odd looks, probably wondering why she wasn't leaving campus like anyone else, but she ignored them all, almost humming as she made her way to the part of the building in which all the administration offices were located.

Briefly, she flashed back to one of her former visits to the dean of students, quite the memorable one during which she had found the poor woman dead; she had been replaced rather quickly with another female, and even though Willow had only met the new dean once, she had gotten the impression that she was kind and genuinely interested in the well-being of her students, the redhead thus not doubting a second that she'd be given the information she needed.

Finally reaching the offices, she stopped in front of the wooden door and, remembering her manners despite her excitement, knocked, already reaching for the doorknob as she waited for the "Yes" from behind the wood; when it didn't come, she frowned, then leaned closer to the door, trying to hear if anyone was in there right now and talking to the dean.

When the room behind the door turned out to be eerily quiet, her frown deepened, and she knocked again, a bit harder this time, again thinking of the dreadful moment when she had found the previous dean of students dead; hoping and praying that she wouldn't have to go through this again, she just wanted to knock again when the man spoke up behind her, making her jump and even let out a small cry. "It's no use, they've all gone home by now."

Twirling around to face him, with her heart racing in her chest, Willow gave her best to hide how much this guy had upset her; moments later though, as she got her first good look at him and realized that she was barely reaching his chest, this became considerably harder for her, a thick lump suddenly in her throat as she took a closer look at him.

The first thing she consciously noticed was how he tall he was, taller even than her six feet girlfriend; and from the way his clothes seemed to hang on him, loosely dangling down his body, his lanky build was more than obvious, as well, her heart beating up to her throat by now as she looked up at his face, not surprised in the slightest when she saw the almost greedy glint in his eyes and the slight smirk curling his thin lips.

His face was one of those that apparently had been made to blend into a crowd, neither ugly, nor handsome, but simply average; his rather generic haircut and brown hair didn't make him stand out in a crowd, either, his size being the only thing that was above average.

_No surprise you never spotted him_, Willow thought to herself, only now realizing what a big mistake she had made when she left without even telling Buffy where she was going and why, her blood running cold as she had to face the fact that right now, this man was the only one who knew where she was, _all he has to do is slouch a bit and you'd never give him a second glance…_

She still had a second to tell herself that maybe, it was just a coincidence, that this man wasn't the one who had been after her during the last weeks; then, he took a step closer to her and she automatically took one away from him, her back hitting the door behind her, his smirk widening slightly at her reaction, his voice down to a whisper when he spoke to her again, confirming her worst fears with just a few words.

"Told you we'd meet soon…"


	16. Chapter 16

"Y-you did", she made herself respond, her mind racing as she tried to remember what she had been taught in psychology class, how stalkers should be handled in such situations, "but it's a bit sooner than I expected…"

"I couldn't wait any longer", he breathed, getting uncomfortably close now, his body almost touching hers, mere inches between them as he stared down on her, "I've loved you from afar for so long…"

"O-okay", Willow gave back, perhaps not the smartest or best thing to say, but the only one she could come up with, "that's… nice…"

"Don't be afraid", he almost cooed, and she had to force herself not to flinch away when he reached up and ran his fingertips down her cheek, then let his hand come to rest in her neck, so close to her now that she could feel his hot breath on her cheeks as he spoke, not wanting to agitate him by letting him see her fear or disgust, "I don't want to hurt you."

From the corner of her eye, she saw his other hand move, then she did flinch as it unexpectedly landed on her hip; and right afterwards, her breath hitched as his long fingers slid beneath the fabric, her whole body cramping up when at the unwanted physical contact, the way the smirk vanished from his face, replaced by a frown telling her that he had noticed, as well.

"What is it?" he then asked her, a hint of the aggressiveness she had gotten from his last few messages showing through his voice, "I told you, I'm not gonna hurt you. I love you."

"You hurt my girlfriend", she gave back before she could stop herself, despite knowing that it couldn't be a good idea to mention the woman she loved to this man; in response, his upper lip curled back from his teeth in an almost animalistic snarl, and his hand tightened on her neck until it hurt, a small whimper escaping her before she could try to bite it back.

"Don't mention her", he snapped, to her relief pulling his hand out from underneath her shirt, "you're mine, not hers!"

"What is going on here?" a third voice threw in, and for a moment, she felt like sighing with relief as one of her professors stepped into her field of view, his brow creasing as he noticed the way the tall guy was gripping her neck – before he let go of her and stepped back, his eyes now downcast as he mumbled "Nothing, Sir", not even glancing at the elder man.

"Was this student molesting you, Miss Rosenberg?" the professor asked, ignoring said student completely as he gave her a concerned look; before she could reply though, the younger man turned and, without another look at the professor or her, rushed off, vanishing around the corner moments later, ignoring it when the professor called out "Hey!" after him.

"What a strange young man", he then shook his head, turning to look at Willow again afterwards, "and you didn't answer my question."

"He did, kinda", the witch gave back after a moment, figuring that if she said no now, he wouldn't believe her anyway, since it had been rather obvious, "you don't happen to know his name, right?"

"No", the professor replied, giving her a concerned look, "are you alright? Perhaps you should see the counsellor. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"I'm fine", Willow reassured him, touched by his worry for her, "but, well… If it's not too much to ask, there's a favour you could do me…?"

"What favour are you thinking about?" the elder man asked in return, raising an eyebrow; smiling as innocently as possible, the redhead tried hard to put the same innocence into her voice as she replied.

"Well, I don't know his name", she started, choosing her next words carefully, not wanting to end up asked why she had been dealing with a stalker and never had informed anyone at campus, "but, this is not the first time he… approached me, so if I knew his name and perhaps where he lived, I might surprise him there and… talk some sense into him."

"With your girlfriend in tow, I imagine", the professor dryly replied, smiling slightly at the surprise he could see on her face, a twinkle in his eyes when he went on. "I've seen her around, she's kinda hard to miss. And I've heard the stories."

"Um", the redhead let out in reply, not sure what else to say and which stories he was talking about; letting out a slight chuckle, the elder man gave her another amused look, then grew serious again, lowering his voice as he went on, as if he was afraid someone might be listening and tell on him.

"Well, technically, I can't give you the information, due to protection of privacy", he let her know, "but in this special case, I suppose we can make an exception. Even though it will be hard to find out who he is, if all we know about him is what he looks like."

"I know his locker number", Willow replied at once, so grateful that he felt like hugging him, "if I give you that, you can tell me who he is, right?"

"Yes", the elder man confirmed, to her great relief, "but I have to ask you not to tell anyone where you got this information."

"Of course", the witch reassured him at once, smiling at him gratefully; he smiled back at her after a moment, then asked her for the locker number and, after she had told him, let her know that she should wait a minute, already digging out his key ring, then unlocking the door of the dean of students' office and entering, to her relief leaving the door open so he could have an eye on her, just in case the stalker might come back.

If he was still around though, he didn't dare to approach her again, and now that at least she would get the information she had been after in the first place when she had taken off alone, she was sure that it had been worth it; she still was aware of the fact that it hadn't been exactly the smartest idea to go alone, but at least, it had paid off, a fact that only was underlined when the professor stepped back outside with a small piece of paper in hand and discreetly handed it to her, briefly making her feel as if she was in some sort of spy movie.

"Thank you", she smiled up at him, and he reminded her once more of the secrecy she had promised him in reply; reassuring him that she wouldn't tell on him, Willow gave him another smile, waiting until he had locked the office door again and was turning away from it before she glanced down on the paper in her hand, her heart speeding up as she realized that now, they had the exact information they had been looking for during the last few days.

_Martin Walker, _the professor had scribbled on it, thankfully with handwriting she could easily read, _Stevenson, 159._

"Here we go", she muttered to herself, smiling as she tucked the piece of paper into her pocket; and just then, her phone started to vibrate, making her jump as for a moment, she was sure that it was her stalker calling, relief filling her once again when she dug out the phone and saw that instead, it was her girlfriend, only to be replaced with guilt immediately as she realized that surely, by now Buffy had finished her talk with the professor, had stepped out of the lecture hall and hadn't found her anywhere – and that surely, her partner was standing in front of the same hall, probably with a worried Slayer by her side.

"Hi", she took the call quickly, not wanting her lover to worry unduly, already starting to walk back to the hall, "I'll be with you in a minute…"

"Where are you?!" Pat wanted to know in reply, sounding quite distressed, "jeez, Willow, Buffy and I already thought he got you!"

"I'll explain once I catch up", the redhead gave back, hurrying back to the lecture hall, glancing around as she made her way back there, not wanting Walker to get the jump on her after all, "I'm fine, and I know who he is now."

"…okay", the demon replied after a moment's pause, "good thing, but please hurry. Buffy and I are waiting at the lecture hall."

"Be right there", the witch reassured her, then ended the call; and two minutes later, she rounded the corner and spotted her partner and her best friend, both of them looking immensely relieved when they saw her, the taller woman even moving to meet her and pulling her into an embrace the moment she was close enough to do so, just holding her tight for a few moments and letting her hear her racing heart, once more making her wonder how worried exactly the black haired woman was for her and if there was anything else about the stalker she had faced in her past she was holding back.


	17. Chapter 17

"He actually was there?" Pat demanded to know not even ten minutes later, giving her a disbelieving look, "and he _groped_ you? The moment I get my hands on him, I'll cut his off, I swear."

"You'll do no such thing", Willow told her in a strict voice in reply, earning another look of disbelief, "remember, he's still human, you can't just kill him. And now that we know his name and where he lives, we can confront him there and make him cry like a little girl, as you've said before."

"I'm not allowed to do anything", the demon sighed theatrically in reply, making both the witch and the Slayer giggle slightly; after a moment, she smirked at them, then gave her best to put an innocent face as she went on. "Can I at least hit him? A little bit?"

"Fine with me", Buffy answered before Willow could, "just remember, no permanent damage and no killing."

"Do knocked-out teeth count as permanent damage?" the taller woman wanted to know in reply, then seemed to remember that there were more important topics at hand and focused on her partner again, asking her how she had gotten rid of the creep in the end, still feeling like smashing something at the thought of this man's hands on her lover, but holding her anger back remarkably well.

"The professor who gave me his name and room number saved me", the redhead had to admit in response, "he happened to come by and asked if this guy was molesting me, and shortly after that, he just ran off."

"That was lucky then", Buffy commented, making her best friend nod, "just imagine if that guy hadn't come along…"

"Then I would have kicked him in the balls like I did with that serial killer", the witch smiled, even though she wasn't sure if she would have been capable of doing so, still remembering well how frozen with fear she had been when he had touched her and had breathed into her face, "and then I would have ran off. He was getting kinda aggressive when I mentioned you, Pat, so it might have been the only way…"

"No surprise there", the taller woman dryly gave back, using the fact that they were out of the building by now to light up a cigarette, "as I've told you before, I'm in his way. So of course he'd get mad if you mention me."

"Do you think he might attack you before he tries to make another move on Willow?" Buffy demanded to know, giving her a concerned look, "I mean, if you're in his way, he might want to get rid of you, right?"

"He's welcome to try", the black haired woman smirked, "if I feel gracious, I'll even let him have one hit at me. Then I'll hit back."

"If he wasn't such a creep, I'd feel sorry for him", Buffy chuckled, making Pat smirk as well while Willow just rolled her eyes; then, they arrived at Stevenson Hall and stood around rather pointlessly as they waited for the demon to finish her cigarette, Willow using the time they gained with this to describe her stalker in greater detail than she had after joining the two.

"He's really tall", she started, glancing up at her lover, "taller than you even, at least three inches. But he looks really… average, I mean, he has that kind of face you see and forget. Brown short hair, brown eyes, and rather thin lips. And of course he's lanky, but we knew that before."

"If he's that tall, he should stand out", Buffy thought out loud in reply while finally, Pat finished her cigarette and the three of them could enter the dorm, "unless he slouches all the time, of course."

"I think he does", Willow agreed, making her way down the hall with the two others, nodding at a couple of students who still remembered her as a former occupant of one of the rooms in the dorm and waved hello, "but from now on, neither slouching nor his average looks will help him anymore, I doubt I'll forget his face anytime soon."

"Might be hard to recognize him once I've rearranged his face for him", Pat grumbled, then fell quiet as they reached room 159; they exchanged a brief look, then Willow stepped forward and knocked, all of them listening intently as they waited for a reaction.

"Seems like he's not home", the demon finally said, after almost a minute had ticked by in silence, "let's see if he locked the door…" While she was still talking, she grasped the door knob and turned it, not really surprised when the door did turn out to be locked; she glanced left and right, dismayed at the number of students on the hallway, then told Willow and Buffy to cover her, already digging out her wallet and removing one of her credit cards from it.

"Be careful", her partner mumbled, making sure no one could see that she was moving the card into the thin slid between the door and the frame, then, with a look of high concentration on her face, started working on the lock; and not even half a minute later, there was an audible snap as she managed to open it, a triumphant smirk on her face as the door swung open.

For a moment, both Buffy and Willow tensed as they simultaneously tried to figure out if anyone had seen what she had done and as they waited for a shocked cry from the dorm room; nobody seemed to care about what exactly they were doing though, and when the room remained silent, they all stepped inside hurriedly, closing the door behind themselves again to make sure nobody would catch them snooping around.

"Single room", Buffy pointed out as she spotted the single bed standing up against the wall to their right, "why am I not surprised?"

"Yeah, it fits", Pat agreed, taking in the rest of the room, raising an eyebrow at how sterile it seemed; the bed had been made so perfectly and tight that a quarter would have bounced off the blanket, there wasn't a single grain of dust anywhere, and all the flat surfaces, where other students put papers, books and sometimes even clothes, were clean and spotless.

"Someone's a bit of a neat freak", Willow commented, looking around, "to be honest, I was expecting something a bit more… stalker-ish."

"Don't say that too early", her partner warned in reply, already moving to the large wardrobe on the other side of the room, "he's just hiding his obsession in case someone walks in unexpectedly."

And with those words, before either Buffy or Willow could ask her how she knew this, she opened both doors of the wardrobe, and all questions were blown out of the two women's minds as all they could do was stare, the redhead swallowing heavily after a few minutes of stunned silence.

Instead of containing clothing, as it had been originally intended, the wardrobe held what only could be called a shrine to her, complete with flowers and candles, even though they currently weren't burning; making good use of all the pictures he had taken unnoticed, he had created a collage almost as big as the wardrobe's back board, a low growl coming from the black haired woman when she took a closer look and saw that he had tampered with some of the pictures he had taken of the witch and her, having removed her and placing himself at Willow's side or in her arms instead.

"So he's good with Photoshop", Buffy quipped in an attempt to lighten the mood, "but I bet he could put it to better use than doing… that."

"Definitely rearranging his face", the demon snarled, glaring at the photos as if they might change back to how they originally had been if she just looked at them nastily enough; despite her control over fire though, her mere gaze wasn't enough to light anything up, and after a few moments, she decided that it was better to ignore the pictures, looking at the other stuff in the wardrobe instead.

"Guess I know now what he took", Willow muttered next to her, spotting said object in the same moment as her partner did; not wanting to touch it, knowing what he had done with it, she gestured at the thong which laid crumpled up next to one of the candles, both Buffy and Pat grimacing in reply.

"I'd say we burn it, but then he'll know we were here", the taller woman than sighed, looking at the thong in dismay; nodding, the redhead tore her gaze away from it, frowning a moment later, prompting her partner to ask her what was wrong.

"He also took a pair of shoes when he broke into place", she explained in response, turning to look at the black haired woman again, "but they're not here."

"Probably keeps them somewhere else", Pat shrugged, "in the locker again, maybe. Or he carries them around with him. The towel's not here, either."

"Gross", Buffy said with a shudder, earning nods from the two others in reply; then, the demon dug out her phone and took a few pictures of the wardrobe's contents, just in case, nodding when Willow asked if they could leave again now, the slight tremble in the witch's voice prompting both her partner and her best friend to give her a worried look.

"I'm fine", she made herself say, even though she felt quite far from fine, unable to stop imagining how he sat in front of his little shrine at night, staring at the photos, at the ones he had tampered with and the ones he had left the way they had originally been, all of them taken without her knowledge and consent; unbidden, images of the towel and what he had done with it came to her, and she swallowed heavily as she turned away from the wardrobe, prompting her partner to close it again with an audible snap.

"Well, he's not here", she then stated the obvious, moving closer to the redhead and putting one arm around her, earning a small, but at least heartfelt smile from her, "so what do we do now? Wait here until he comes back?"

"No", Willow gave back at once, "I have an idea… But I need some Lethe's bramble from the Magic Box first."

"You wanna make him forget?" Buffy wanted to know, briefly surprising her best friend since she hadn't expected the blonde to remember; after a moment, she nodded, smiling slightly when the taller woman gave her a questioning look, prompting her to elaborate as they left the dorm room together.

"It's a herb, for a forgetting spell", she told the black haired woman while the Slayer pulled the door close and made sure that it wouldn't open again, after it had been opened rather unconventionally by her demonic friend, "and I'll use it to make him forget all about me. I'll wipe his mind of anything related to me, you, or Buffy and, if I can, I'll try to remove his… stalker tendencies, as well."

"So I won't get to hit him?" Pat wanted to know in reply, sounding so disappointed that it was almost comical, "awww…"

"Maybe you can knock him out", Willow giggled in response, earning a happy grin, the sight only making her laugh harder; and once again, the mere presence of her partner and her best friend helped her to push the gruesome mental image of her stalker aside, allowing her to feel relaxed and content as she grasped the taller woman's hand, convinced that soon, everything would be resolved and okay again.


	18. Chapter 18

"So we'll surprise him in his room once you got that herb, then I can knock him out and then you'll do the forgetting spell on him", Pat recapped their rather crude plan as they walked to the Magic Box together, "sounds simple, but that might just be the reason why it'll work."

"Yeah", Buffy nodded her agreement, "just remember how often we made super-complicated plans and they didn't work out. Simple might be the best way to go, he is only human after all, not some sort of power-hungry Hellgod or whatever."

"We shouldn't underestimate him though", the witch pointed out, "he might be human, but that doesn't mean he's not dangerous. Remember, Warren… was just human, too."

"At least most of the time", the Slayer gave back, remembering the return of said man and what he had been then, making her best friend nod; for a few moments, she thought back to Warren's return and how they had made good use of the spell which let anyone in physical contact with Pat borrow her healing for the first time back then, shrugging those thoughts off at last though, telling herself that she had more important things to focus on.

"I'm looking forward to knocking him out", Pat said, bringing the talk back to the more important thing they should be focusing on, "it's been way too long since I had the chance to beat anything up. Or anyone. Yes, Buffy, I know, he's human, no need to look at me like that."

"Just making sure you won't forget", the Slayer replied with a roll of her eyes, earning a huff from the demon and smiling innocently at her; and while Willow shook her head at their antics, the Magic Box appeared up ahead, all three of them walking faster as they were eager to get the herb the witch needed for her forgetting spell.

"Hello!" Anya called out the moment they stepped through the door and the little bell above it rang, "do you want to buy something again today, or do you wanna ask more questions?"

"Have you got Lethe's Bramble?" Willow wanted to know in reply, the brunette's eyes lighting up while she told her that she had some back in the storage; she asked her to wait a minute, then hurried through the door leading to said storage at the back of the store, the three women standing around a bit lost for a moment before they started checking out the shelves in an attempt to keep themselves busy.

A few minutes ticked by, making them all wonder where exactly Anya was keeping the herb, a low thumping sound coming from the storage area once and causing Pat to wonder out loud if she finally had dropped one of the heavy boxes she always had to put on the highest possible shelf; this earned her a scolding look from Willow, all three of them freezing another two minutes later though as a well-known and very unwelcome smell reached their nostrils.

"What's going on?" Buffy was the first one to ask, and after another moment of sniffing, Pat, the one most familiar with fire, gave her the answer, sounding alarmed as she did so. "The storage room's burning. Get out, now, I'll get Anya."

"But…" the blonde started to protest, eager to help as well; one look from the taller woman was enough to shut her up though, and she merely nodded, leaving the store with Willow in tow moments later while Pat hurried to the storage room, the flames behind the door leading to said room by now crackling audibly, the doorknob hot to her touch when she grasped it.

To anyone else, opening the door would have been fatal, due to the backdraft the sudden rush of fresh air caused; thanks to her immunity to fire though, the flames which lashed out at her didn't even singe her hair, the smoke not affecting her either as she entered the burning area and called out for Anya, the door falling close behind her again moments later, keeping Buffy and Willow from seeing what was going on as they stood on the sidewalk in front of the store and tried to peer inside.

As always when something dramatic seemed to be happening, a crowd of onlookers quickly assembled, speculating among themselves what was going on; and since neither the Slayer, nor the witch wanted anyone to notice that the tall woman who'd surely come out with the owner of the store was actually fireproof, they both tried to break the cluster of people which had formed up, pointing out the fact that they couldn't see anything anyway and that it was quite dangerous to stand so close to a burning building.

They both were so busy with this that they didn't even notice how they moved away from each other, until the crowd was between them; and just as Willow realized that all of a sudden, a whole knot of people was all around her and that she couldn't even see Buffy anymore, something cold and hard poked into her side, her eyes briefly widening as she felt a hand grasp her upper arm, followed by a terrifyingly familiar, low voice.

"Don't make a sound", Walker told her, gripping her tighter when she tensed up, "or I'll shoot them all. I mean it. Come with me."

He pressed the cold and hard thing harder against her side, and a quick glance told her that it was what she had feared; swallowing heavily, she let it happen that he led her away from the crowd, the onlookers oblivious to her plight as her own jacket was hiding the gun in his hand from view, unless anyone might look directly at it, something which was highly unlikely, since they all were staring at the smoke billowing out of the Magic Box.

For a moment, she thought of making a break for it despite his threat, of just fighting back while screaming on top of her lungs; then, she looked back again and realized how many innocent people she would endanger with such an act, and just grit her teeth as he pulled her along, poking her with the gun every now and then when she didn't move fast enough for his liking.

"You know they'll look for me", she finally brought out in a trembling voice, nearly wincing when the gun was pushed harder against her ribcage in reply; and then, Walker replied, and his words made her blood run cold, her fear of him and what he might do to her suddenly so big that it wiped her mind of each and every defensive spell she so far had been thinking of and made it hard for her to breathe.

"They will", he whispered, in an almost tender voice, "but they will never find you."

* * *

"How the fuck could you let this happen!" Pat raged twenty minutes after the fire had started, ignoring the startled looks the people of the small crowd that still was watching the store gave her, "what do you mean, she's gone?! Gone where? What the fuck, Buffy, you knew someone's after her, you _knew _and you didn't think of keeping an eye on her?!"

"I didn't mean it to happen!" the Slayer defended herself, sounding as if she was on the verge of tears, "but the people just… I don't know, they got between her and me, and that must have been when…"

"…when he took her", the demon finished for her in a toneless voice; for a moment, she felt like hitting the blonde, then forced the urge back down, telling herself that it wouldn't solve anything.

That her partner had been taken by the man who had been after her for weeks now was a fact she didn't even doubt for a moment; after all, Willow had realized how dangerous it was to go anywhere alone, when the stalker had confronted her at campus, and they both knew that she was too smart to make the same mistake twice.

"We have to find her", she added, "before he does God knows what to her. Call Giles, tell him to look up some spell or something so we can locate her, I'll go back to our place and get her supplies and weapons, I'll meet you there."

"Alright", Buffy nodded, while for once, Anya was quiet, by now having woken up again from the brief unconscious state she had been put in by a hit over the head from behind; thanks to that, she hadn't been able to tell the two anything about her attacker; neither the Slayer, nor the demon having the slightest doubt who it had been though.

"He played us like a goddamn fiddle", the black haired woman growled, "knocking her out and setting that fire, he must have known one of us would go to get Anya out, and then he only had to wait for his chance… Dammit!"

Angrily, she smashed her fist against the wall of the store, so hard that dust actually rose from where her fist had landed; this, combined with the fact that afterwards, her knuckles were neither bloody, nor broken, convinced most of the onlookers that they had somewhere else to be and that the action was over anyhow, the few people who dared to stay a bit longer following them when she glared at them nastily, having enough of being stared at.

"I'm sure Willow will be okay", Anya finally regained her ability to talk; the only response she got was another glare, "Giles will know how to find her, and then we'll go there and save her."

"You will do no such thing", the black haired woman grumbled after a moment, having to remind herself that the brunette didn't mean any harm with her words and just wanted to help, "you probably got a concussion, he hit you pretty hard. Just another thing I'll break his face in for."

By now, Buffy didn't even try anymore to remind her of the fact that Walker was human, knowing how likely her face was to be the target of the next hit instead of the wall; instead, she just let the taller woman know that she'd head off to Giles' now, earning a grudging nod in reply, and an unarticulated grunt when she once more said that she was sorry.

"See you later", the demon then added, turning and hurrying off before the blonde had a chance to reply anything; swallowing heavily, she looked after her friend for a moment, feeling like slapping herself for failing her best friend like that, knowing that she would never be able to forgive herself if something horrible had happened to Willow before they'd find her.


	19. Chapter 19

It wasn't the first time that she had been forced into the trunk of a car to be taken God knew where, but Willow fervently hoped that it would be the last, as she laid curled up in the rather small space, trying to figure out where he was taking her from how long the car was driving; at first, she had tried to resist when he had told her to open the trunk, but one poke with the gun had been enough to make her change her mind, all sorts of gruesome scenarios playing in her mind's eye as she thought of the horrid things he might do to her once they arrived at their destination.

Even the smallest road holes caused her to get jostled around quite a bit in the trunk, and once, she hit her head hard enough at the lid to make her groan; if Walker had heard, he didn't react to it, merely driving on until finally, after what seemed like a much longer ride than it probably had been, the car came to a stop and the engine was killed, signalling that they had arrived at their destination and not just had been stopped by a red traffic light.

Swallowing heavily, she listened how he got out of the car, the driver's side door slamming close moments later; then, his footsteps approached the rear end of the vehicle, and moments later, the trunk was opened and he was looking down on her, the gun in hand again, aiming it steadily at her as he told her to get out, grasping her arm once more the moment she had done so.

"Campus?" she blurted before she could stop herself after taking one look at their surroundings, immediately recognizing the back of the lecture hall building, "you took me to campus?"

"Of course", Walker gave back, as if it was the most logical thing in the world, directing her to move along in front of him so he could push the gun against her back, "you'd be surprised at how many unused rooms a campus has. And that way, I can be close to you even when I can't be with you…"

Swallowing heavily, she glanced around as he guided her to the building's back entrance, looking for someone, anyone, who might help her out of this mess; to her great distress though, the campus was empty, and she had to admit that he had planned this well, abducting her on late Friday afternoon, when the students either had gone home for the weekend or were in town, and all the staff had gone home early.

"Open the door", his voice, calm and reasonable, not sounding crazy or threatening at all, came from behind her; he placed his free hand on her shoulder as she did so, keeping her from making a break for it after all, poking the gun into her back when she didn't step inside the building fast enough for his liking.

"Third door on the right", he added as he stayed as close to her as he could without actually tripping her up; and impossibly, her heart sped up even further as she realized where said door led, not liking the thought of being taken to the campus cellar by this creep at all, but knowing that she didn't have much of a choice, at least not for now.

Thus, she couldn't do much else than obey him as he directed her down the stairs, then through the rather dark corridor, his breath hot in her neck as he told her to stop in front of the second door on the left this time, his next instruction once they had reached said door sending cold shivers up and down her spine.

"Hands behind your back", he ordered, poking her with the gun again when she didn't do so immediately, "or I'll have to knock you out. Your choice."

"Please don't do this", the witch brought out in a trembling voice, wincing when he pressed the gun harder against her back in response, his voice now holding a hint of aggression as he told her once more to put her hands behind her back.

_Don't let him tie you up! _her mind shrieked, sabotaging her tries to fight down her panic, _who knows what he'll do to you!_

"Last warning", Walker breathed into her ear, "do it now, or I'll knock you out. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

As if to make sure she had understood him correctly, he rammed the gun into her back yet again, and she finally gave in, swallowing tears as she moved her hands behind her back; seconds later, cold steel closed at first around her right wrist, then around her left, dread filling as she realized that, even though she had freed herself from ropes with her magic before this, she never had been forced to do so with handcuffs she couldn't even look at, knowing that eye contact made opening locks much easier.

_Keep your calm, _she told herself as Walker reached past her and opened the door, then pushed her inside before he flicked the light switch next to the door, bright neon light filling the room moments later, giving her a good look at the old-fashioned metal filing cabinets which had been stored inside, _don't freak out, he'll slip up sooner or later, then you can escape… And you know you need to be calm to do magic…_

Her self-control nearly vanished into nothingness as Walker steered her through the maze of cabinets, to the far end of the room, where he had moved a few of them to make room in the corner, having placed a mattress there, close to heating pipes mounted to the wall, a chain already connected to them and a lock readied, a thick lump in her throat suddenly keeping her from speaking as she fully realized how serious he was about all of this, about keeping her down in this room for God knew how long.

"Sit", he ordered from behind her, poking her with the gun once more when she didn't obey him fast enough; somehow, she managed to do so without falling over, even though it wasn't easy with her hands cuffed behind her, and he gave her a warning glance before he knelt down next to her and connected the chain to the one between the cuffs, the click of the lock sounding awfully loud in the small space.

"Don't try to free yourself", he warned her as he sat back, facing her, "you'd only end up hurting yourself, and I don't want you hurt."

He smiled at her, then ran his fingertips down her cheek, and her breath hitched in her throat; still she gave her best to hold still as his hand moved to her neck, not wanting to agitate him by fighting back as long as she was chained up, even though not trying to move away became considerably harder when he leaned closer, his lips brushing hers, his breath once again hot on her cheeks.

"I'm so happy to have you here now", he breathed after pulling back at least a bit again, to her relief not forcing a deeper kiss from her, still keeping his hand at her neck though, clearly eager to touch her, "and I'll make you happy, I promise… You'll come to love me…"

He gave her another smile before he, without giving her a chance to reply, came to his feet again and tucked the gun back into his waistband; he reassured her that he wouldn't be gone for too long, then turned and marched off while she remained seated on the mattress, flexing her fingers as she tried hard to regain enough of her composure so she could start the magic and try to free herself.


	20. Chapter 20

Due to the lack of windows in the small room and to the fact that she couldn't glance at her watch, Willow had no idea how long he had left her alone when he finally did come back, carrying a duffel bag over one shoulder and, to her dismay, a bucket in the other, the use of said bucket quite obvious; she was sure though that it had been several hours, her hands and arms by now numb, after being bound behind her back for so long.

While he had been gone, she had tried her best to unlock the cuffs which her magic, so she could just run off while he'd not be around to stop her; and when that hadn't worked, she had tried to open the lock instead, but hadn't had any success there, either, no matter how much of her magic she had used, the only result being that now, she had a pounding headache and felt tired and drained.

"I'm back", Walker unnecessarily told her as he dropped the duffel bag on the ground next to the mattress, "did you miss me? I brought you coffee and something to eat…"

"Thanks", the redhead mumbled in reply, not answering his question and slightly relieved when he didn't demand her to; he gave her another one of his small smiles, then sat down next to her again and opened the bag, carefully removing a thermos and a paper bag from it, her heart still performing a rather daring somersault in her chest when she, among the clothing, books and other everyday items he carried around in there, spotted the roll of silver duct tape.

"Oh, that", he commented as he noticed her look, giving her another smile, "we won't need that as long as you don't start yelling. Not that anyone would hear you, but it gives me a headache."

He put both the thermos and the paper bag on the ground, then dug through his pockets until he found a small key, in the process also letting her have another look at the gun in his waistband; holding the key carefully, he focused on her again, his voice pleasant and even friendly, despite the words he was saying. "I'll free one of your hands now, but remember that you're still chained to the pipe, and don't try anything. I know where I can put a bullet so you won't die."

She wasn't fully sure if this was true, but decided not to test his theory, merely nodding her agreement in response; Walker gave her another smile, then moved to kneel behind her, a soft click sounding through the small room as he unlocked one of the cuffs, and the witch grimaced while she flexed her fingers and tried to get some of the feeling back into the muscles.

"Enjoy", he told her as he handed her the paper bag and the thermos, "I got you a tuna on rye, I know you like that, and coffee just the way you like it."

Even though she knew how he had gotten this information, and the mere thought made her stomach turn, Willow forced herself to smile at him as she took the bag and the thermos from him, knowing that it'd be useless to make him angry as long as she hadn't managed to get the chains off; he immediately grinned back at her, then scooted even closer to her on the mattress, watching her intently as she ate and drank, his eyes never leaving her for a second.

"You know", he then started, leaning closer to her and nearly making her choke on the food by placing one hand on her upper leg, caressing her tenderly, "if you need anything else, just tell me. I can get you anything."

"That's very… nice of you", Willow gave back, fighting down the urge to push his hand away, even though her skin crawled when he let it slide higher up her leg; he smiled at her again in response, then glanced down on where his hand laid on her leg, sounding thoughtful when he spoke up again.

"I imagine your friends are looking for you by now", he told her, making her wonder where this was leading, "but you know they won't find you down here, right? So you might as well make this easy for you by being… nice."

_You don't know a thing about what my friends can do, _the witch thought to herself in reply, convinced that by now, the whole gang was working on how to find her, either with magic or with technology, _so they might surprise you in the end._

"And even if they do come here", Walker went on, now smiling his small creepy smile again, "I have a gun and they don't. I'll just shoot them."

"You better make a row of one-shot kills then", Willow snapped in reply before she could stop herself, her good resolution to not agitate him gone, "because they will find me, and they'll fight for me until either you or all of them are down. Especially my partner."

"I told you not to mention her", Walker growled in reply, glaring at her, only getting angrier when she held his gaze and refused to look away, not bothering to hide her disgust about him anymore, "you're mine now! Mine!"

"I'll never be yours", she told him at once, glaring back at him, all thoughts of playing along now gone, "not even if you'll keep me here for a hundred years!"

The gun was in his hand before she even realized he had reached for it, and she had a second to be both stunned by his speed and to ask herself if he would shoot her now; and then, he hit her, pain exploding in her head as the barrel slammed against the side of her face, hot blood running down her cheek moments later as the iron sight had torn open the skin over the cheekbone, Walker's eyes going wide at the sight.

"I, I'm sorry", he stuttered after a moment, dropping the gun on the mattress, to her dismay still making sure that it was out of her reach though, "I didn't mean to hit you, but you shouldn't have made me so angry!"

He ran both hands through his hair, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down while Willow held back a groan of pain, still feeling blood trickle down her cheek; after a few moments, Walker apparently had gotten a hold of himself again, since he gave her another look, then reached into the duffel bag once more and retrieved a bunch of napkins, holding them out to her.

"I'll bring some disinfectant or something tomorrow", he told her, checking his watch, then coming to his feet, "but for now, I think it's better if I give you some time to calm down."

Even though she didn't like the thought of being left alone down in the cellar, Willow's only reaction was to grab the napkins he had given her and press the whole wad of them against the cut in her cheek; he momentarily looked guilty again at the sight, then clearly shrugged it off, his eyes hardening as he told her not to try anything stupid before he turned and left, her heart hammering up to her throat again as he switched off the light on his way out, then slammed the door close behind himself and locked it, leaving her alone in the dark with her pain and her fears of what he might do to her, should her friends not find her fast enough after all.

* * *

When Willow woke up again, she was neither sure when she had fallen asleep, nor how long she had been slumbering; the sharp pain in her face had turned into a dull throbbing during the unknown span of time, but still she tried not to move around too much as she dug her phone out of the pocket, not sure if the blow had given her a concussion or not.

A quick look at the display told her that it was shortly past eight in the morning, and her heart sank when she once again, just as in the previous day, had to acknowledge that she had no service down there; still she tried calling her partner, then sending a message when the call didn't get through, mumbling a curse beneath her breath when the message wasn't sent, either.

"Stupid building with stupid thick walls", she grumbled to herself as she tucked the phone back into her pocket; when she had remembered that she had it the evening before, she had been overjoyed and relieved at the fact that Walker hadn't thought of taking it away from her, only to have her joy smashed to bits when she had found out that the phone wasn't working, anyway.

Since the chain binding her to the pipe was too short to let her stand up, she had to stretch as much as possible while sitting down, something that wasn't easy; the mattress Walker had put in the room for her was a rather old and lumpy thing, and she hadn't slept all too well thanks to that and the whole situation, her back cracking audibly and making her grimace.

The sound of the key turning in the lock distracted her from her various aches and tense muscles, and for a few seconds, she allowed herself the hope that it wasn't Walker, but someone else, here to rescue her; then, he stepped into view from behind the filing cabinets, smiling innocently at her as he wished her a good morning, acting as if he hadn't hit her in the face not even twelve hours ago.

"Did you sleep well?" he wanted to know as he gave her yet another paper bag and a cup of takeaway coffee, "I'm sorry I forgot a blanket, I hope you weren't cold."

"No", the redhead replied curtly, not willing to give him more than monosyllabic answers; clearly though, Walker didn't mind, smiling at her again as he sat down next to her and told her that he not only had brought her a sandwich this time, but a cookie, as well.

"It's not healthy to drink coffee all the time, though", he went on while she got out the sandwich, "so I'll bring you a soda later for lunch. What kind would you like? I can get you any the vending machine…"

The sound of the door opening cut him off, and his eyes went wide – before he moved with stunning speed again, pressing the gun against her side with one hand while the other covered her mouth to keep her from yelling for help, the way he held her against himself letting her feel his heart race in his chest.

They both sat perfectly still as they heard footsteps approach, moving through the maze of filing cabinets; the sound of heavy boots on the stone floor was so familiar to Willow that it made her heart clench up, and she told herself not to get her hopes up too high, that surely, thousands of people in Sunnydale had a liking for biker boots which seemed to weigh a ton – and then, her partner stepped into view, glancing around before her gaze settled on the redhead and her kidnapper on the mattress, one eyebrow slowly wandering up as she took in the scene.


	21. Chapter 21

"Not a step closer", Walker hissed, pressing the gun harder against the witch's side, until she was sure it would bruise, "or I'll shoot her! I mean it! She's mine now, but if I can't have her, neither shall you!"

"Chill, man", Pat replied, with so much indifference in her voice that it made Willow flinch, a small sound of disbelief coming from her, only to be ignored by the taller woman, "just wanted to see how's it going."

This took Walker aback so much that he even loosened his grip on her, staring at the black haired woman with wide eyes; smirking at him, she held his gaze, then dug out her cigarettes and lit one of them up, leaning against the wall rather comfortably, not appearing worried the slightest even when he came to his feet and aimed the gun at her.

"Don't play any tricks on me", he warned her, glaring, "I'll shoot you right in the head if you play any tricks!"

"I don't doubt you would", she shrugged in reply, smirking at him again, "but there's really no need for that. Actually, I just wanted to get her phone, I bought it, it's the newest model and she can't really use it down here anyway."

"You're not trying to make me believe you're not here to rescue her, are you", Walker spat, his grip on the gun tightening, "do you think I'm stupid?!"

"Of course not", Pat gave back at once, taking another drag of her cigarette, "if you were, you wouldn't have managed all that. Snatching her in the middle of the day and locking her up here, without getting caught, that was quite the smart thing to pull off."

Now, the young man didn't even know what to respond anymore, just standing there and staring while behind him, Willow did the same, the demon just giving her the briefest look before she continued, still sounding so awfully indifferent and uncaring.

"You know", she started, gesturing vaguely into the witch's direction, "to be perfectly honest, I was hoping something like this would happen sooner or later. Something that would save me the trouble of breaking up and going through all that dramatic crap."

"W-what?" Walker stuttered, and this time, Pat not only smirked, but chuckled, then gave him a wry look, shrugging as she went on.

"It has become quite the hassle", she informed him, "always having to save her, look after her, fight for her… It's been getting quite tiresome, really. Not to mention the million times I got hurt because of her, hey, how do you think I lost my eye? I had two before I met her."

"Um", was all the stalker could reply to that, the gun now trembling just enough to let Willow notice; then, he regained his composure, still sounding suspicious when he replied, even though the redhead could tell that he wanted to believe her partner, wanted to be convinced that she hadn't come here to take her away. "Then why would you even bother coming here? Or being with her?"

"Just here for the phone", the black haired woman gave back without missing a beat, "and about why I stay with her, well, the sex is good. Now that you're here to take her off my hands though…"

"You're lying", Walker decided in response, glaring at her again, "you're just trying to make me relax so you can knock me out. I heard you tell her you love her! And you cuddled and kissed after that night on the cemetery, where you did… these strange things…"

_So he did see, _Willow realized what he was talking about, almost gasping out loud, _how could he just ignore it then?_

"Oh, you've been there after all, then", Pat came to the same conclusion, raising an eyebrow, "then you saw what I can do, and what I am, did you? Surely you also know what they say about my kind. Demons aren't exactly known for being honest."

"I don't believe you", Walker mumbled, lowering the gun as he spoke though and contradicting himself, "you just want to throw me off guard…"

"You don't believe me?" the demon repeated, smirking again now, "just take one look at her face then, and you'll see that, even if you don't, she does. And she should know, right? She knows me long enough."

Hesitatingly, Walker turned his head to do just that, then spun around so fast he nearly made himself dizzy when he got the first glimpse at Willow's face; her eyes were filled with tears and disbelief, the hurt expression on her face convincing him more than anything the demon could have said would have.

And the moment he had turned his back on her, she was moving, closing the distance between them with two fast, large steps; in one smooth movement, her right hand came up to grasp his wrist and twist it sharply, bone breaking with an echoing crunch while her other arm wrapped around his throat, cutting off the scream he had wanted to let out while the gun clattered to the floor.

With his eyes wide, he struggled against her hold as she now let go of his broken wrist to grab her own and increase the pressure on his throat; he gasped and gurgled as he tried to fight her off, finally regaining enough of his sense to not just squirm and struggle, but to slam his elbow back over and over, a low grunt coming from her each time he hit her rib cage, but she wouldn't let go, only choking him tighter in response to his attacks.

"Bitch", Walker wasted precious air to curse at her, slamming his elbow into her side again, then realized that this didn't accomplish anything and threw himself backwards with all his strength and weight; he managed to drive her up against the wall and ram her against the hard stone, pinning her in between, but still she was choking him, now snarling and growling into his ear.

Grunting as well now, he refused to give up so easily though, now using his height to his advantage as he bent over, far enough to actually lift her off her feet; with his face reddening from lack of air, he tried to throw her off by catapulting himself sideways, hard enough to slam her against one of the filing cabinets and make it fall over with a tremendous crash, drowning out the gasps he was letting out as he finally was losing his grip on consciousness.

"I told you", he heard her growl into his ear as he slumped down on his knees, his eyes rolling back into his head, her chokehold still tight enough to fully cut off his flow of air, "demons lie."

He let out a final, helpless gurgle in reply, then his body went limp as he lost consciousness; still Pat held on for another minute, making sure he really was out cold – before she moved one hand around his jaw and the other to the back of his head, Willow immediately realizing what she wanted to do and sharply calling out "No!", making her freeze in mid-motion before she looked up and at her.

The moment their eyes met, the man she just had wanted to kill was forgotten, and she dropped him unceremoniously to the floor and rushed over to her partner, pulling her into an embrace and holding her so tight that for a few moments, the redhead had trouble breathing as well, still hugging her back the best she could with the chains still restricting her movement, a shudder running through her as she fully realized that she had been saved and that things would be alright.

"I'm so sorry", she heard the demon whisper into her ear, an audible tremble in her voice, "I'm so sorry I had to say all these awful—"

"Hush", Willow interrupted her, not unkindly, "no need to apologize. I know."

"Thank Goodness", her partner sighed out in reply, "for a moment there, I was really worried it either might not work, or you might not notice what I was doing…"

"Well, to be honest, at first I was a bit taken aback", the witch admitted, smiling weakly and earning another apologetic look, "but when you gave me that brief look, I figured it out. And I think it was the only way to make him turn away from you…"

"Yeah", Pat agreed, not wanting to let go of her, but knowing that she had to so she could go through the unconscious man's pockets and find the key for the handcuffs, "it was what he wanted to hear, so of course he—"

The gunshot was deafeningly loud in the small space, drowning out the startled cry Willow let out; and moments later, she cried out again, audibly this time, as her partner slumped forward in her embrace, blood pouring down her back, hot and sticky on the witch's fingers as she clung to her.


	22. Chapter 22

"No, no, no", she brought out in a trembling voice, trying to figure out where exactly Pat had been hit and how bad it was; and then, Walker let out a noise of triumph, still clutching the gun with his left hand now, his right dangling uselessly as he struggled to his feet, an insane glint in his eyes when his gaze focused on the witch.

"Told you", he panted, "you're mine, and I won't let anyone take you away from me now…"

In response, she just looked at him for a few moments, her gaze darkening and her hatred of him growing with each drop of her lover's blood she felt trickle over her skin; and then, without thinking, she raised one hand and just fired the first spell that had popped up in her mind at him, the blast which hit him in the chest and threw him backwards against one of the filing cabinets, hard enough to put a dent into the steel.

Groaning in pain, he tried to struggle to his feet again, but she wouldn't let him, not after what he had done to her girlfriend; one look was enough to make thin tendrils of concrete rise from the ground and wrap around his legs and his good arm, keeping him from getting up and from raising his gun, his eyes going wide in shock as he found himself bound to the floor.

For a horrible second, she felt the darkness within her, begging to be used, to make him feel all the fear and pain he had put both of them through; and then, Pat let out a mixture of groan and grunt in her embrace, and the feeling was gone, pushed aside by her concern for her loved one.

"Pat", she tried to gain her attention, and perhaps keep her from slipping back into unconsciousness, "Sweetie… Come on, look at me…"

"Bastard", the demon grunted in reply, gritting her teeth as she surprised Willow by moving back slightly, now not hanging on her anymore with her whole weight, "shooting in the back is… really cowardly."

"Yes", the redhead agreed, eying her with worry as she still wasn't sure how badly she had been hurt, remembering well what they had been taught about shock and how it sometimes caused people to not notice how badly they'd actually been hurt, "but he won't do it again…"

"Free me!" Walker yelled behind the black haired woman, both of them ignoring him though, not even looking at him; he grunted and snarled as he tried to get out of his bonds on his own accord, but the concrete held, only chafing his skin as he struggled.

"Help me get up", Pat grumbled, glad that at least, the bullet apparently hadn't hit any vital organs; it hurt horribly, and she could feel an unsettlingly large amount of blood pour down her back, but if she'd manage to come to her feet and change, there was nothing to be worried about anymore, not even high blood loss.

Nodding, Willow tried to grasp her around the waist without making her pain even worse; judging from the groan the taller woman let out as she helped her to her feet, she hadn't been fully successful, but at least the demon was standing on her own feet after half a minute, swaying a bit and rather pale, but not looking as if she might fall back down even when the redhead let go of her.

Behind them, Walker stopped his tries to free himself when she clenched her fists and, with a low, throaty growl, started to change; even if he had seen what she could do with fire before, it had been nothing compared to what he witnessed now, his eyes nearly falling out of his head while his bladder let go and the smell of his urine filled the small room, to the disgust of both Willow and Pat.

With her growls becoming slightly louder as the wound healed, the demon grit her teeth at the unpleasant feeling of the bullet being pushed back out; and half a minute later, it fell to the floor with a soft _clink_, Willow once more amazed at how such a small, deformed piece of metal could do so much damage, even kill within seconds if it hit the wrong spot.

"There", Pat distracted her from those thoughts, "much better. And now I'll take care of our little cowardly friend here."

With those words, she turned to face the young man behind her, and her glowing red eye met his, a malicious grin exposing her unsettlingly big and sharp teeth; Walker took one look at her and let out an incoherent noise, looking as if he wished that the ground would open up and swallow him – before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fainted, slumping down as far as the concrete still binding him allowed, an amused snort coming from the demon at the sight.

"So much about that", she then commented, changing back to her human form, "even though I really wanted to hit him once or twice. He ruined my jacket."

"That can be repaired", Willow gave back with a roll of her eyes, "just be glad the bullet didn't hit you in the spine or something! He could have killed you…"

"But he didn't", the taller woman reassured her at once, moving closer to her again to hug her tenderly once more, rubbing her back soothingly as she sensed that now, with the danger gone and Walker bound and unconscious, the events finally caught up with her partner, her face paling as a shudder ran through her.

"It's alright", she mumbled as she held the trembling witch, still caressing her back tenderly, the thought of getting the handcuff key from Walker for the moment forgotten, "I've got you, I'm fine, you're fine, and we got Walker nicely tied up and knocked out. You're safe now…"

"I know", the redhead brought out through chattering teeth, still finding herself unable to stop trembling, prompting the taller woman to tighten her embrace around her and hold her as close as she could; still caressing her back and hair, she kept muttering reassuring words and phrases into her ear, holding her until the shaking stopped, her voice full of worry and kindness when she asked her if she was alright.

"I think so", Willow let her know after a moment, pulling back slightly from the embrace so she could look at her, "just get the key from him and let's go, alright? I don't want to be in this room one moment longer…"

"Of course", the demon reassured her at once, letting go of her so she could move over to where Walker hung in his concrete bonds; she quickly went through his pockets, then found the key, kicking the gun away from his hand just to make sure he wouldn't use it again after waking up, holding the key up triumphantly as she made her way back to the witch.

"What should we do about him?" Willow asked while Pat freed her from the cuffs, "you know we can't just kill him, but if we just leave him here…"

"Then he might come after you again", the taller woman finished for her, looking at the still unconscious man in dismay, "should we hand him over to the police?"

"Yeah", the witch agreed after a moment, rubbing her wrists and flexing her fingers to get some feeling back into them – he had closed the cuffs quite tightly, and for a few seconds, Pat had to fight down the urge to kill him after all as she saw the deep marks the steel had left in her lover's skin.

"They should have more than enough evidence", the redhead added, watching how her partner moved to his unconscious form and, with a flick of her fingers, ending the spell which had been binding him and making it possible for the demon to drag him over to the pipe and cuff his wrists to them, getting a bit of revenge on him by closing them tighter than necessary, as well.

While she was busy with that, Willow took a look at the duffel bag, feeling like throwing up when, among the pair of shoes he had taken from their home and the towel he had used for his private pleasure, she found a box of condoms, asking herself how close she actually had been to being raped; then, something else caught her eye, a small, quite tattered notebook, and she curiously pulled it out, opening it at a random page and reading through the content.

_Saw her in the shower today, _Walker had written in the neat hand she knew from the Post-It note he had left in their apartment, _and she was every bit as beautiful as I imagined her to be. I was really lucky she didn't spot me, and I even managed to take some pictures. I can't wait to look at them in peace in my dorm. I wonder if she'll come back to class now or if she'll go home…_

Snapping the book shut, the redhead shook her head, holding it up when Pat asked her what she had found, making sure to keep the condoms out of view, knowing that any self-control the demon still might possess would fly out the window within the blink of an eye the moment she'd spot them.

"Some sort of diary", she explained, "I just read a few lines, but they were about how he was after me, so that should be more than enough evidence. Let's just leave it here for the police to find when they come to pick him up."

"Yeah", Pat agreed, to her relief not peeking into the bag as well, instead bending down and wrapping one arm around her waist, helping her to her feet, "not to mention the stuff in his room and all the messages you got from him. He'll be behind bars for quite some time."

"Good", Willow mumbled, looking back at him once more, her poisonous glare unnoticed by him since he still was out cold; and then, she turned away from him and walked out of the small room with her partner right behind her, not looking back anymore, telling herself that now, it was over and that she had a more or less normal life to look forward to.


	23. Chapter 23

Author's Note: And here's the final chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, next one will start on Monday :)

* * *

An hour later, the police had been called and informed that a man who had been stalking and kidnapped one of the students of UC Sunnydale was chained up in the campus cellar, along with evidence for his crimes; the dispatcher who had taken the call had tried to find out who she was talking to, but instead of telling her, Pat simply hung up, figuring that they'd find out on their own soon enough and that in this very moment, she had better things to do than talking to the police.

"That was quick", Willow commented as the demon joined her in the bathroom, where she just was stripping down to take a bath; after having been rescued from the dingy cellar room, and after Walker touching her more than once, all she wanted to was to take a nice, long and hot bath, a decision the taller woman supported whole-heartedly.

"Yeah", she shrugged, "I just gave them the basics. They wanted to know more of course, but I hung up, they should be smart enough to figure out who he was after on their own, and then they can talk to you, but not today."

"Thank you", Willow sighed, deciding that the bathtub now was full enough and taking off the rest of her clothes, only to cause the demon to narrow her good eye as she spotted the purple bruises the gun had left on her rib cage, merely more signs for his brutality, along with the cut and bruise the blow with the gun had caused on her cheek.

"That should be cleaned", Pat let her know while she slid into the hot water, letting out a content sigh, "just to make sure it doesn't get infected. Does it hurt?"

"A little bit", the redhead gave back, "it was worse yesterday… But you're right, it should be cleaned, just not right now."

As she said the last few words, she opened her arms invitingly, and she didn't need to ask; to her amusement, it took the black haired woman merely seconds to take off her clothing, and not even a minute after she had issued the invitation, Pat had climbed into the tub with her, getting comfortable behind her after some shifting and strategic movements from both the witch and her.

"How nice", Willow sighed out once she had found the most comfortable position possible, leaned back against her partner's front, with her arms wrapped around her, "just what I need after all that excitement."

"Oh Hell yeah", the demon agreed at once, "and to think that this time, all that excitement was caused by a single, regular human, not the slightest bit supernatural."

"Yeah, that was new", the redhead gave back, rolling her eyes, "except for Warren and his dopey friends, of course, but you weren't around back then, so…"

"And none of them stalked you the way Walker did", Pat pointed out, making the witch nod once more; then, she turned slightly in the taller woman's embrace so she was facing her, smiling at her briefly before she kissed her tenderly, reaching up afterwards to caress her cheek, making her smile at the gentle touch.

"You've been so amazing through this whole ordeal", the smaller woman mumbled, smiling as well when she felt the demon's hands come to a tender rest on her back, "I can't thank you enough for how caring and supportive you've been…"

"You don't have to thank me at all", Pat reassured her, "that's all part of the girlfriend package. I'm just glad I found you before he could do anything… really dreadful to you."

"How did you find me, anyway?" Willow wanted to know, only now realizing that she hadn't been told this so far; smirking, the taller woman stole another kiss before she replied, her answer making the redhead giggle slightly. "I used that tracking thingy you have on your laptop. It cost me approximately a hundred years of my life, I cursed so much and so loud that once, our neighbour came over to ask if I'm okay, and more than once I was really close to just setting the whole thing on fire, but in the end, it worked out. Somehow. Don't ever make me do that again."

"I'll try", the witch gave back with a small laugh, "and thank you for not burning my laptop. My dissertation's saved on that."

"I know", Pat smirked, "that's one of the reasons why I didn't burn it after all. And also because it was the only way we had left to find you unless searching the whole town at random, we tried magic, but none of us was skilled enough to pull the spell off…"

"No surprise there", the redhead had to admit, "the locator spell is quite tricky if you have to modify it to work on a person…"

"We noticed that when the map caught fire", the demon sighed, earning another giggle from her partner; the two beamed at each other for another moment, then shared another tender kiss which quickly deepened this time, all the tensions, concerns and fears of the last days falling off of both of them, allowing them to relax and enjoy the time of peace they would have together until the next challenge would come up.

End.


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